Out of Line
by Flitting Wishes
Summary: Max escaped the School when she was 13. She thinks she's the only one with wings, but are there other like her? And...who's Ari? "Maximum Ride," the Eraser says, pointing a gun to Ella's head. "Come with us and she might get to live." *AU *WINGS *FAX ***HIATUS***
1. Chapter 1

There is one word written on my locker when I finally arrive at school. It's obviously not in my handwriting, and is written in bold, red sharpie, completely covering my locker.

_FREAK._

I almost laugh at the irony of it all. "Almost" being the key word.

I smile bitterly. If they think I'm a freak _now, _then I can't _wait _to see their reaction when they find out what I _really _am. I mean, come on! I've been acting like a normal human the whole time, and yet they _still _think I'm crazy.

Ha. If only they knew how insane I really am.

Lissa and her group of followers pass me by, and they all turn up their noses or roll their eyes, their way of acknowledging me. I roll my eyes back at them.

Ugh. Some humans think that they're all that just because they can do whatever they want and not have anyone holding them back. I'll admit, sometimes I envy them for that. But then I realize that it doesn't matter, because the pros almost always beat the cons.

"Almost" still being the keyword.

I mess with the lock for a second before I remember my combination. I lost the slip of paper the first two weeks into school, and a lot of times I forget the combination, and then end up remembering it. Solely because they just happen to be the same numbers I had at the School.

I swiftly shuffle all of my things that aren't needed for first period into my locker, shutting it as quickly as possible.

I'm about to make my way down the hall and into first period, when I bump into someone turning around. I don't look at them so I can't tell who they are, but I'm pretty sure they aren't anyone I actually want to know. Heck, this freaking school is made up entirely of people I really wish I didn't know.

I try to just keep going down the hall and not start some argument without whoever it was. But they seem to disagree, because a male voice shouts, "Watch it, Freak!"

The capitol "f" is very necessary, since I am actually the only one in the school that's called that a lot. Sometimes, if a person's a true "Social Catastrophe" (Lissa's pet name for anyone who isn't popular), then they'll get called a freak once or twice. But I'm called it daily. I don't understand why just about everybody hates me. I mean, I never did anything to anyone that would make me a SC—well, except when I punched Lissa's face in on the first day of school, but that was it! Any anyways, I didn't even hit her that hard—she only got a nosebleed.

I don't respond to the boy's shouting. I already apologized, so why do it again? I just try to ignore him—maybe he'll go away. Usually, the Populars will get tired of shouting insults at me when I don't even show any sign of being the slightest bit angry or annoyed. But this one doesn't. Right when I'm making my way past him, he shoves my shoulder roughly and says, "Hey! I'm talking to you!"

I glance at his face and find out that it is Laden, the jock. He's one of the Head Populars (or Pops, for short) and currently Lissa's boyfriend. It won't last long, though. Lissa swaps boyfriends every week, or—if she's feeling generous—two weeks.

Even if I hate Laden, I have to admit: he's good looking. Blonde hair, swoop bangs, "sparkling" blue eyes—the whole cliché shebang. Being a jock, he wasn't exactly a wimp either.

I'm pretty sure I'm one of the only girls in my school that doesn't swoon over him. Maybe two or three other girls like me, but certainly not that many.

I'm getting fed up with his persistence—I must have caught him in a bad mood. Whatever. It's only seven thirty-six o'clock and I am already in a terrible mood. My Anger keeps building up by the second, so I need somewhere to lash some out on. How about him? While Laden's strong, he's all bronze and no brains. I'm strong _and_ I could easily outsmart him.

"Because I _really_ care." I retort sarcastically, rolling my eyes. "And I'm _done _talking to you, so move." I shove roughly past him. I only get a few feet down the hall though when he grabs my shoulder and twists me around before I can react. I am surprised no one in the halls has noticed us yet, but they are all too busy with their own conversations to pay any attention to ours.

"Don't you—" He starts heatedly. He's cut off, though, by a voice. "Hey!"

A girl—probably in her freshman year—comes running down the hall in the opposite direction I am, so Laden's back is to her. The girl is very pretty, but not in the try-hard way like all the Pops. She has brown, long, curly hair that's braided down her back and she seems to be Hispanic. She also has the prettiest brown eyes I've ever seen (I am not lesbian; so don't go thinking any thing. I'm just describing how pretty she is). They look like dark Hershey's chocolate.

She isn't wearing anything near what all the Populars do—that is to say: nothing revealing or preppy. She's wearing dark wash skinny jeans, a white spaghetti-strap, and a light pink cardigan over that. Her black flats have a sort of flower design on them, and her necklace appears to suppose to match that design. I remember everyone at the school, and I haven't ever seen her before. I guess that she is a New Girl.

Laden turns around to find the owner of the voice. He smiles, a little sarcastically, and says, "Well, who do we have here? A Newbie?" He raises an eyebrow at her, and I wait patiently for her response.

The New Girl holds her head a little higher and her voice has more steel in it the next time she speaks. "The Newbie's got a name."

I admire her for her vigor, but I don't let that show on my face. The New Girl looks at Laden and changes the subject. "What do you think you were doing?"

He's obviously finding her vex amusing, and smirks at her, seemingly trying to humor her. "Having a chat with Maxi Dearest. What's it to you?" I am surprised he remembers my name since everyone just refers to me by insults. Except, of course, the teachers, but still—nearly nobody pays attention when the teachers do roll call.

Her verve obviously hasn't worn off. "Well, when I see some guy shoving around a girl a lot smaller than him, I usually suspect something wrong is going on." I mentally scream. I am not weak! I don't want to be seen as the-girl-who-couldn't-take-care-of-herself! I'm _fine_ on my own!

_Max, just calm down, _the ever so familiar Voice instructions me. He hasn't actually taken to a command yet, though, so I still have free will. I take a breath and zone back in on what's going on.

Laden tells her, "This is none of your concern, so just run along and go to class." He does the generic "Shoo, shoo" gesture in the general direction of where she came running from.

Suddenly, a deafening sound of the fire alarm blares through out the hallways and each in turn rapidly covers their ears with their hands. I drop my book bag in the process, but ignore it for the time being.

Laden and the girl are too focused to notice me sling my bag over my right shoulder, and hurry off down the halls, trying to stay overlooked from them.

* * *

**So, yeah. This was made COMPLETELY out of boredom, so it probably won't be going anywhere any time soon xP**

**Um...**

**By the way, this is just a prologue. And, also, Max has wings and the voice. But not extra powers. **

**REVIEW, PLEASE-IES!**

***.*.*Flitting Wishes*.*.*  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**So, due to a couple of people saying to continue, I'm continuing! Some of you may have seen the outfit for Max, Ella, and Lissa already, but that's just because I had this written up last night, but I didn't have time to upload this. I made the outfits before the chapter. xD**

**Here ya go!**

***.*.*Flitting Wishes*.*.*  
**

* * *

**-ABOUT ONE YEAR LATER-**

"Isabella Abbot."

"Here."

"Joey Airen."

"Here."

"Taylor Bristle."

"Here."

"Margaret Bolin."

"Here."

Everyone replies in monotone to the teacher, all evidently bored out of his or her mind. I am bored too, so I take to either playing with the hem of my green shirt, or doodling in my useless, empty notebook.

My name is at the last of the list, so I don't have to worry about not paying attention most of the time.

I get bored of doodling very quickly, so I just let my mind wander. I wonder what my "dad" is doing right now. Probably too busy working in his office to have even noticed I had gone to school. This morning, I hadn't said anything to him, having no purpose. Being the first day of school, he should've remembered that I was leaving early, especially since I left a note on the kitchen counter.

I bet he hasn't even read the note by now.

Then my train of thought shifts to the School, a common subject it often goes to. What are they planning right now? To take over the world using a couple of clones? To capture and drag me back there, kicking and screaming? Are they even planning anything?

The School hasn't bothered me in almost two years, and I hope to keep it that way. The only problem is that they left too much evidence behind to let me forget about them.

I'm apparently too caught up in my thoughts to notice that the teacher has called me already. He has to say my name three times before I hear it.

"MAXIMUM RIDE!" I look up from my hands slowly, noticing everyone's eyes are on me. Lissa smirks and puts on a fake look of politeness and innocence, something ruined by her attire. She's wearing a short, white pencil skirt, a pink shirt (the top three buttons undone) and four-inch, white high heels. Her flaming red hair is put up in some complicated bun, supported by a pink, sparkly hair clip. Her green eyes are lined in a ton of eyeliner, and her eye shadow is the same is always has been—pink and gray. Lissa's blush is making her freckles look like they're on fire, and her lips are smeared in lipstick. In other words, she doesn't look at all innocent.

I ignore her.

"Here." I mutter quietly, but still loud enough for everyone to hear. I still feel very uncomfortable in what I'm wearing: a black skirt, and a green, ruffled blouse with a black tank-top underneath. My feet are clad in green TOMS. My blonde hair is put up with two silver clips, the color matching the wing-necklace that hangs around my neck. This is not something I would normally wear, and I feel very vulnerable in this skirt. But Ella begged and begged for me to wear this, and I just can't resist Bambi eyes. My wings are squished to my back, and they ache, but Ella doesn't know about my wings, so it honestly isn't her fault.

The fact that just about everyone is staring at me doesn't help to my…uh…"situation."

I silently curse Ella for making me wear a skirt. Why couldn't I be wearing some skinny jeans or something? She knows how much I hate skirts and dresses, but yet she still makes me wear a freaking skirt! I had asked Ella if I could wear leggings underneath it, but she said that I would be too hot in that, due to the fact it was still summer.

The teacher explains that today is a free day, being the first day of school, and a half-day. I don't actually care, so I just zone out.

About a year ago, my stepmother was afraid that I wouldn't be caught up when I started high school, having never been to any school in my life. She decided to teach me all she thought I needed to know.

We spent endless hours sitting on our leather cough, huddled around her laptop. By now, I am ahead of everyone since she ended up teaching me _too _much. I'm well along in school now, so I don't actually _need _to listen. And since I don't tell anyone that I'm advanced, I'm not in honors.

At long last, the bell rings and everyone shifts around their desk, picking up their bags and getting ready to head out the door. The teacher dismisses us, and we all hobble out, some people still half-asleep.

"MAX!" I turn around just in time to be crushed by a flying ball of pink, white, blue. I cough a couple of times as Ella squeezes me into a hug. "Ella—can't—breathe—help—me" I manage to get out before she releases me and says an apology. "Oh, sorry! I'm just so excited! I haven't seen you in forever!"

Okay, let me explain.

Ella went to Europe all last summer, and we either texted or Skype-d each other the whole time. That's how she used the Bambi eyes on me and got me to wear what I'm wearing. She got back yesterday, but I hadn't had time to actually see her, since she lived a fair ways away, and she got back at around eleven o'clock PM. Despite being fifteen, my dad didn't want me going out late.

Isn't he just the best?

I finally get a good look at Ella, and find that she's grown. She doesn't look the same she did when she left. Ella's almost as tall as me now, even though I'm a year older (she skipped a grade). Her hair grew out from it's short-do she had when she left to catch her plane, and I kind of like it better that way. Makes her look more like last year.

_Admit it, Max, _the Voice says in its' "Hurry up!" tone. _You have issues with change. _

_I do not. _I tell him, a little impatiently. _I'm perfectly find with change…_

I can basically feel him rolling his eyes at my "denial" and me. _Keep telling yourself that, Max. _

Due to the Voice and I's conversation, I don't notice that Ella has started walking down the hallway and I have subconsciously followed her. I don't notice the people in front of me or the fact that Lissa and her associates pass by me. I _do_ notice when she yells, "Happy Two-Year Anniversary!" and sticks her foot out, making me trip and do a face-plant.

Everyone who has noticed (besides Ella, of course) starts laughing at me, but I just pick myself up and dust off the imaginary dirt on my skirt.

Let me explain: that's the same thing that happened last year when we first came here. The exact same thing, except she didn't say anything, just tripped me.

But what did I do last year in return? I punched her face in.

_Max, no, _the Voice warns me.

So that's exactly what I do this time.

_Too late, _I say back.

Lissa stumbles back from the impact of my fist meeting her face, and two of her cronies catch her. I suddenly remind myself that I still have to be careful with how much force I use—I'm much stronger than a regular human, so to her, that was a lot more painful than it would be to me.

I see red spring up from her nose, and realize she's bleeding.

Ah, sweet, sweet memories.

_Here we go again with the subject of change._

_Shut up, Voice. _

I hear a couple of, "Oohs!" and suddenly there are some chorus of, "Fight! Fight! Fight!"s. I hadn't noticed, but about half the school (and this school is _huge) _has come to see what the commotion is about.

But there are just too many people and suddenly my claustrophobia is taking over and my vision is blurry. I'm having a hard time breathing and all I want to do is _get out. _I can't move, however, because that's almost literally _all I can think. _

_Max, _abruptly, the Voice is back and he has his "control" tone on. Meaning I physically have to do what he says. _Run out of the crowd and go to your locker as if nothing happened. _

I do exactly what he says, moving in a sort of mechanized way. I can hear Ella trailing behind me, but I can't look at her. All I can do is watch where I'm going, and do what the Voice tells me.

I finally get far enough from all the commotion and I have my free-will back.

"Max! Max, what was that about?" Ella asks me once it's quiet enough to hear me. I look at her with a seemingly convincing "what ever do you mean?" look on my face. "What was _what _about?" I open my locker at a lightning pace, since I had spent my free time at first period this morning memorizing it, and in no need of hesitation. Grabbing all the things needed from my locker and shutting it, I turn back to her. She takes a breathe, still panting from having to keep up to my pace the whole time. "Back there. You got a far-away look in your eyes and then you started running like you didn't have a choice," She takes another breath. _Ha, _the Voice says, _well, that's because you _didn't _have a choice. _I mentally yell at him. Ella continues, "Why?"

I haven't told Ella about my…_powers _yet so I really have no explanation for that.

I'm cliché-ly saved by the bell, though. I apologize and tell her that I have to get to class since my History class is on the other side of the building.

**_AWKWARD LINES ARE AWESOME._**

_Max._

Ignore.

_Maa-ax…_

Still ignoring.

_MAX!_

_WHAT, VOICE? I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP!_

_Just look up!_

I actually roll my eyes, but do what he tells me. Partially because I'm just curious about why meeting the New Guy is so important.

Okay, so, I admit: I am shocked. I don't know what I expected, but he is not it.

Black hair, black eyes (no joke), black bag, black shirt, and black jeans—the whole shebang.

In other words, he is my definition of emo. And…kind of hot.

Ignore that last sentence.

"Class," The teacher—Mrs. Mercedes—starts out with. She gestures to the New Guy. "Meet Nicholas Walker. Nick, meet the class." Just about everyone is staring at him now and I sort of pity him since I know how that feels and it's not pleasant. Unless, of course, he's some conceited jerk who loves attention and is going to be a Pop. But whatever.

Speaking of Pops, I can basically _feel _Brigid—Lissa's clone—drooling over him. Actually, scratch that—I can basically feel _all of the girls _drooling over him.

_Jealous, are we? _I can almost hear the amusement in the Voice's...well, voice.

_Who are you, Yoda? __**(a/n: **_**No joke, I just typed that up, and my friend who's reading over my shoulder said that, so I had to add that in xD)**_ And no, I am not jealous, smart one. Nor will I ever be. _

He makes an tsk-tsk sound. _Still dealing with denial, I see. _

_As previously stated, didn't I tell you to SHUT UP ALREADY?_

The Voice is silent after that.

I don't pay attention the rest of the class; I'm still too tired. I hadn't gotten a lot of sleep the night before, having had a nightmare. (Again.) I rest my head on my desk, and close my eyes.

**_AWKWARD LINES ARE STILL COOL._**

"MAX! WAKE UP!"

"I'M RESTING MY EYES!" I scream back at whoever is trying to wake me up. My stepmother used to always say, "I'm not asleep, no, I'm just resting my eyes!" and somehow that got stuck in my head to say that whenever someone wakes me up via screaming/yelling. My waking statement makes the class erupt in laughter, and I blush and shield away.

"Max," Mrs. Mercedes says in her "stern" tone. "You can't continue falling asleep in class like that, okay?"

I smile apologetically, and say, "Sorry, Mrs. Mercedes. Won't happen again."

One of the most used clichés of my life is being saved by the bell, which I am (again).

BBRR-RRING!

"Alright class, it's the first day, so you don't have any homework. You can all go, except Miss Ride, I need to talk to you." The last part is directed at me. I quickly shuffle all my books into my messenger bag; sling it over my shoulder, and make my way towards her desk. "Ma'am?"

She gestures for me to come closer to her desk and I do. Mrs. Mercedes picks up some papers off her desk, organizes them, and then sets them down again. "Yes," she says. "I have a…request for you." I raise an eyebrow at her. "Um…Ma'am?"

She waves a hand at me. "Oh, no need to be so formal, dear, I'm not in teacher-mode."

I visibly relax, my shoulders not as tense. "No comment."

She looks at me through her glasses, brown eyes shinning. "You know that I have a nephew, correct?" I nod, still as confused as ever. She continues. "Nick is actually my nephew." My eyes widen slightly, but not by much. I can now see the resemblance—black hair, brown eyes, freckles, and the same long nose, both tall. Honestly, she looks more like his mom than his aunt. But oh well. I nod in understanding. "What's that got to do with me, though?"

She smiles at me. "I would like to ask you if you could show him around a bit. He's very shy and closed off, and he _literally _just moved here from New York. Nick doesn't know anything about this school, and you're really the only student I was sure wouldn't let me down." My eyes are very wide by the end of her speech. What? If Nick wants to be popular, then hanging out with me is _sooo _not the best way to do it!

I give a nervous smile and a small, pathetic laugh. "Mrs. Mercedes, in case you haven't noticed, if he wants friends, then I'm not exactly the best person to hang out with." I give another pathetic laugh at the end of my sentence.

She only smiles, despite my awkward blip of laughing and honest reasoning. "I know you aren't the most…loved girl in the school, but I know you're a good person, and I don't think he should hang out with the wrong crowd just to be a 'Pop' as you say." I sigh. Mrs. Mercedes has no idea how bad of an idea this is, but she's way too persistent to let it go, so I give up on trying to win the argument. I shut my eyes and take a deep breath. "Okay, sure. If that's what you really want me to do." She squeals happily, sounding very much like a teenage girl who just got a new car for her birthday. "Oh, thank you, Max! I really appreciate it!" I nod my head a little reluctantly, smile weakly, and then leave for my next class.

Let me explain: Mrs. Mercedes actually lives in my neighborhood, so I saw her some during summer, a lot of times at the coffee shop downtown called, "The Flying Pig." Mrs. Mercedes is very young—only about twenty-five. I know her pretty well, and she knows me pretty well. That would explain the whole mother-daughter bond we have.

And I have to hang out with her nephew all the time now! Wahoo.

This is where I'm surprised the Voice hasn't made a comment.

* * *

**yeah, a lot of times I add in conversations I've had with someone, or something me or my friends have said. Like, for instance, there's gonna be a conversation with Max and Iggy about Megan Fox and Logan Lerman (xD). Also, the think about resting your eyes is actually something that my friend yelled at me when I woke her up. :)**

**The fanfiction is going to become lighter and more joke-y once Max finally embraces her "Social Butterfly" (as my sis would say.) The last chapter was kind of...dark. **

**review!**

***.*.*Flitting Wishes*.*.***


	3. Chapter 3

It's now lunchtime and Ella has decided that we are going to sit with her boyfriend Iggy and his sister Nudge. Now, there's nothing _wrong _with this, it's just that I don't really know Iggy and Nudge really well. I mean, I've hung out with them before and all, and I know quite a lot about them, but we aren't very _close. _Not like Ella and I, at least.

To make matters slightly worse, Nick still has to come with us. History is right before lunch, so I haven't had time to talk to him. But he obviously isn't going to get lost on his way to the lunchroom, since there is an abundance of kids literally running towards the lunchroom (surprisingly, the school's food isn't actually that bad).

"Maaaax, come oooon!" Ella whines, taking my wrist and starting to tug on my arm in the direction of the cafeteria. "I wanna gooooo." I just ignore her though and stuff my bag into my locker. I shut it and free my left wrist from her grasp. "There, are you happy now?" To which she replies by nodding her head enthusiastically. I roll my eyes (jokingly, of course) and we head off towards the lunchroom. Ella's telling me about something or another, but I'm not really paying attention.

_Watch out! _

I barely manage to sidestep someone running past my right side. If I hadn't, they probably would've plowed into me with their lunch tray, dumping everything on me, and probably crashing me into the wall behind me.

Good thing the Voice warned me.

_Thanks. _

_You're welcome, Max. _

The lunchroom is just this huge room centered exactly in the middle of the school. All the walls are a boring beige color, and only one small corner of the room is taken out for the actually kitchen that only about twenty or so people cook in. All of the tables are round, and there are more than sixty tables, more than a two hundred chairs. The cafeteria is the loudest room in the school. The nurse and the Office is almost right next to the cafeteria, so when you're in there, you can hear the buzz of teenage kids talking at an extensive level.

Ella and I take a spot in the lunch line and I just grab one of almost everything, shoving it onto my plate. I eat quite a lot.

"I still don't understand how you do that, Max," Ella tells me, eying my tray. "How can you possible eat that much and not gain, like, any weight?" I just shrug though.

"I have a high metabolism, remember?" When I was at the School—this laboratory where scientist do tests on kids—they put bird DNA in me when I was an infant, successfully giving me wings and making me only 98% human—2% raptor. Along with the wings, I got a lot of other things. I have a high metabolism (as previously said) so I have to eat more, my bones are hollow, I have different blood cells, and I'm stronger than the average human. I don't think they meant to make me stronger, though, and I don't think that was a "side-affect" of the raptor DNA.

After getting our food, Ella and I make our way to the back table, which is the one we usually sit at. Iggy and Nudge are already there, Nudge chatting away to Iggy.

A couple things about Nudge and Iggy: 1) Iggy is blind, 2) Nudge is a chatterbox and she's obsessed with fashion, 3) Iggy and Nudge were adopted into their family, 4) Their real names are Monique and James.

So anyways, I take a seat next to Nudge, while Ella obviously sits next to Iggy. "Hi, Ig, Nudge."

"Hey, El, Max," Iggy greets, and Ella takes his hand in hers. Ella and Iggy are the love-y-dove-y type of couple, and honestly, it annoys me. Not a lot, but it still annoys me.

"Oh my gosh Ella I went to the mall the other day with this girl that just moved in—her name is Gabbie—and we found the _cutest _shirt and I swear it just screamed you and we were going to buy it but then we found out it was like eighty dollars and we were like 'Oh my God!' so we just kept going to this other store that I can't remember the name of and I saw another shirt that looked like something Max would wear 'cause it had the whole 'hard-core' thing going on which I know you usually wear Max but for some reason not today oh my gosh I love your shirt by the way I wish I could —" Nudge is cut off mid-sentence by Iggy slapping his free hand (the other still holding Ella's) over her mouth, successfully shutting her up. Nudge glares at Iggy, something ruined by the fact that he's blind, but he smiles and drops his hand from her mouth.

We talk about anything and everything for a long time, eating our food. I don't say anything the whole time, having no purpose to join in the conversation.

Finally, I see Nick standing off to the side, tray in hand, looking around at all the tables. I sincerely hope that he isn't look for the Populars table, because then that means I have to hang out with one of _them, _but hey—I can't be one to judge. I interrupt Ella by poking her hand, and I point at him once I have her attention. She just looks at him for a second, before understanding what I'm trying to tell her and waving her hand in the air frantically. He finally spots us and makes his way towards our table.

Iggy apparently hears him coming and asks me who it is. "Some guy I have to show around named Nick." Iggy nods a couple seconds before said teenager takes a seat in front of me.

"Hey," Ella and I say at the same time. She looks at me and gives me a look like, "That was creepy," but I just shrug and continue eating my French fries.

Nick nods at us in greeting and Nudge launches into another long "sentence."

"Oh hi my names Nudge well not really since my real name is Monique but everyone calls me Nudge I don't even know why which is pretty weird I guess it's because sometimes when I was little Iggy would—" She's cut off (again) by Iggy nudging her in the ribs. She glares again while Ella and I snicker. I take a look at Nick and see that he has a look of slight amusement on his face, the sides of his mouth slightly quirked up in a _very _small smile. I suddenly remember that he doesn't know our names, but he hasn't asked and I don't feel like talking at the moment. Plus, Ella has just started saying something.

"Actually, _that's _why. I'm Ella, by the way." She says, plopping a grape into her mouth.

"Fang," He tells her, and I'm surprised how deep his voice is. I haven't heard him say anything since that. I obviously don't let my surprise show, though. I raise an eyebrow when he tells her his "name" but don't say anything. I guess it must be his nickname, like Iggy and Nudge.

"This is Iggy, Nudge, and Max, also," Ella points to each one of us in turn. Iggy greets with a mutual "hey," Nudge waves, and I just smile a little bit, scooping some more macaroni into my mouth. He nods again.

I'm about to ask him if Mrs. Mercedes has said anything to him about me showing him around, when Lissa and Brigid decided to come over and ruin our conversation.

"Oh, hey Maxine, Ella, Monique, James," She says looking at each of us as she says our name, smiling. She always calls me Maxine because she knows I hate it. Maxine is not my name, Maximum is, and it gets very annoying when people do that, honestly. I can't stand it.

"Oh, and hi Nick," She directs her attention to him, taking in his appearance, fluttering her eyes brazenly. She's clearly trying to flirt with him, and N—_Fang_ has a look of indifference on as she does so. But she hasn't given up yet.

I roll my eyes. _Still jeal-ous…_The Voice taunts, in a singsong tone.

I mentally roll my eyes again. _Not in this lifetime, buddy. _

_We'll see._

Nudge has a look of sincerity on when she asks Lissa, "Do you have something in your eyes, Lissa? 'Cause it looks like you're trying to get something out. I think you should go to the bathroom and check to make sure." It strikes me that she's being completely serious and I almost choke on my water from a sudden burst of laughter. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), I manage not to and repress my laughing.

Lissa gives her a weird look, and when seeing me restrain laughing, she rolls her eyes, scoffs, and turns up her nose to me. "No, Monique, I do not have anything in my eyes. God…" She says, vexingly. The last part is muttered with another roll of her eyes (she does that a lot).

All of her true personality is gone, though, when she turns back to Fang. "I was wondering if you wanted to come sit with me and my friends over there?" She points her thumb behind her to the table all the way across the room, where, low and behold, a quarter of the Populars are sitting at, all the girls smiling flirtatiously, the guys looking welcoming. They all look as if they're very eager to have Fang as a new addition, seemingly thrilled with the idea of emo boy over here join them.

I wait for the moment he'll nod, say, "Sure!" and join them joyously; leaving us behind and me to forcefully hang our with someone I certainly won't get along with. That's what always happens. That's what always _will _happen. And anyone who turns out not good enough, is thrown back into our group. They always are, but they don't like it, turning up their nose, looking down on us. They usually crawl back to the Populars, and end up being "clone" (as we say) once they get tired of us.

That moment doesn't come, though, because he just keeps a blank face on, stares at Lissa for a moment, and says, "No thanks," in complete monotone.

Lissa's jaw basically drops to the floor, and her green eyes are very wide. Brigid—whom I had forgotten is here until now—frowns and her eyebrows furrow. I smirk victoriously at them. Lissa is staggered. "But—how—what—_why?" _She basically screeches. I'm still smirking when he answers, "I don't want to. I'm fine sitting here."

I can almost feel the anger radiating off of her, but she just lets most of it die down and smiles (flirtatiously, of course) at him again. "Well, when you decided to stop hanging around the school's biggest SC's—'specially Freak over there—" she juts her finger in my direction and I give a look of fake sweetness to her. "You can always come hang with us. Bye Nick!" She gives a small wave of goodbye, whips around on her heel, Brigid doing the same, and struts off where she came from.

I continue eating my food while Ella explains why I was so happy when he said no. "Lissa has hated Max from day one, and has made it her job to ruin anyone who hangs around hers life. Including us. But, since you're fresh meat, she decided that you weren't too late to be 'saved', as they say," she does air quotes around the word 'save.' "And try to bring you to the Dark Side."

I give a small laugh when she says this. It's so comical, since the only thing they're capable of doing is being spiteful and humiliating us—nothing too malevolent that would make them be labeled the Dark Side. If anything, _we _should be called the Dark Side. When I first started hanging out with Ella, she said that if they're going to label us, we're going to label _them. _I didn't disagree, really. So now, we all just call it that.

I continue what Ella left for me to finish. "And I'm happy now, because if you had said yes, I would've had to hang around a Popular for a couple of days, and I do _not _want to do that." Fang raises an eyebrow when I tell him this, so I explain further.

"Mrs. Mercedes has taken it to her liberty to 'assign' me to show you around the school," I say, plopping a piece of apple into my mouth. He nods in conception, eating his pizza without a word.

Nudge launches into a story about Logan Lerman a moment later, saying something about how attractive he is (it's true!).

About the only part of her "sentence" that I hear is saying he's hot, to which both Ella and I nod our heads, agreeing. What? You think that just because I'm a freak I don't think guys are hot? Heck, no!

"Who's Logan Lerman?" I hear Fang ask. Ella's jaw is touching the ground once she hears this, and Nudge has stopped rambling in surprise. My eyes are slightly wide, because, honestly, how do you _not _know who Logan Lerman is?

"Who's Logan Lerman? He's, like, the hottest guy in the universe and he plays Percy in _The Lightning Thief!" _Nudge says, flabbergasted.

Ella nods eagerly, adding, "Well, hottest next to Taylor Lautner, of course."

Now, you may be freaking out right now, like, "But Ella has a boyfriend!" when she said that, but the thing is—Iggy doesn't care. He knows that Ella loves him. He doesn't really care if she talks about how hot "teen heart-throb sensation Taylor Lautner" is.

Fang obviously hasn't seen that movie and he raises an eyebrow at me, since Nudge and Ella have started a verbal fight about who's hotter.

I shrug. "In other words, he's a _really _good-looking actor."

Iggy snickers when I say this. "Someone's got a cru-ush!" He taunts in a singsong voice, acting like we're eight years old again.

"Oh, because you don't like Megan Fox," I snap back. He stops snickering and glares in my generally direction. "Touché." I smirk, for, like, the seventh time today.

**_Lines…more lines…even more lines…a lot more lines…blah. _**

After lunch, I have science class, the worst class of the day. Yippee! Not.

Frankly, it's not the teacher, or the people, or even just the work we do in science class. It's not the fact that I suck at it—no, it's the worst because it always reminds me of the School. I can't _stand _it. The first day of freshman year, I nearly fainted from the smells and everything. I had only escaped the School about a year or two before, and it's not like when my step-mom studied with me, we went out and actually did experiments, heck, no! And it wasn't that I wasn't used to the smells or whatever—it was that I was _too _used to it. It reminded me too much of when I was stuck in a dog crate, confined, and most of the time in pain.

It still reminds me today, but not as…much, I guess. Or, more likely, I'm habitual the smells and things—but in a _good _way.

None of my friends are in my class, since Ella has Math next with Nudge, while Iggy has History. But, turns out, Fang is in my Science class, which is…kind of good. I'm still not sure about him. He doesn't seem like a jerk or anything, and a couple times at lunch (when he actually spoke) I could see him being in our group. The other times, the thought was just…weird.

The awkward part, though, is that neither of us talks a lot. I mean, I talk a normal amount when I'm with Ella or my step-mom, but I don't when I'm not around people that I know well. Fang, on the other hand, just doesn't talk (or shows emotion) in general.

After the rest's departure, we have to go to our lockers. Turns out, ours are pretty close together, maybe about seven down, which can be lucky and unlucky.

Once we both have our stuff, I hold out my hand and say, "Schedule, please," in a pretty monotonous voice. He reaches into his (black) bag and outs the stabled papers in my open palm. I take them, and examine the schedule for a second.

"You have Math with Mr. Rollin for 1st period, obviously, and 2nd period with Ms. Gall for English. You've already been there, though, so showing you the classrooms aren't needed. You had 3rd period History with Mrs. Mercedes, and I'm in that class, so that's…good. Then, lunch, 4th period Science with Mr. Loftis, which I have, 5th period Spanish class with Ms. Dame, which I _also _have, 6th period Music, which I take, and 7th is Gym with Mr. Bonne, which I have, again. Wow, we have a lot together," I'm ticking my classes off on my fingers, making a map of everything in my head. I'm more saying this to myself rather than him, but he's listening and I see him nod out of the corner of my eye. I look back to him and hand his schedule back. "Okay," I take a breath. I am out of breath after pulling a Nudge. "We'll need to get to Science now, since he's kind of strict about being on time. It's not that far away, though, so that's good."

We head off down the hall in the direction of Science, and I can't help but dread what is coming. I really do not want to go to Science class.

My wings are still very cramped, but I have forgotten about it until now. Suddenly, a sharp pain shoots through my back and up my wings, and I'm clenching my teeth to keep from screaming. The pain is so…God, I don't even know. It hurts so badly…

I can hear the Voice yelp in my head and I unexpectedly remember that whatever I physical pain I feel, the Voice does too. I'm not thinking about him for long though, because the pain just…stops. Leaving me wondering what the _heck _just happened.

* * *

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	4. Chapter 4

_I am kicked in my side by a heavy, black boot. I stifle a scream when the foot makes contact with my already weak stomach. Here, it's not acceptable to show your fear or pain. They take that as a sign of weakness and use that against you. I cannot let them do that. Now that I have the Voice, I'm even more vulnerable. I cannot let them get me like that yet again._

_The man sneers at me and I give the best death glare I can muster in my state. Needless to say, it is not as threatening as I wish it to be. He just gives me another sneer, kicks my side again (less hard this time), and turns his back to me. _

_He drags me onto the bed kicking, punching, and screaming bloody murder and then ties me down. After this is done, a woman in maybe her late thirties walks into the room holding a clipboard in one hand and a pencil in the other. Her brown hair is pulled up in a bun, a few strands hanging down in her face. Her eyes are the same color as her hair and she has a partially evil glint in them when she turns her gaze to me. _

_She gives me a look that I think is supposed to appear kind and caring, but the look is wasted when she puts down the clipboard and pencil, picks up a syringe, and walks cautiously towards me. I give her a look as if to warn her not to come near, but she just ignores me, and comes even closer, holding something I know will cause me even more pain than before. _

_I look in fear at what she's holding. I know that it won't be any better than what happened last time—and that almost killed me. This one will, though. I'm 99.99% sure. I do feel sorry for her, though, because of what I know is bound to happen when she tries to inject me with it: my body will go into more paroxysm (the scientist didn't mean for that to happen almost every time; it was an accident). _

_I'm positive she's about to plunge it into my arm when a voice comes on the speaker, "Dr. Mantle, the Director wishes to speak to you ASAP."_

_"Dr. Mantle" grumbles something about bad timing, sets the things down, warns the other white-coat not to touch it, and stalks out the door. _

_I am very thankfully for the "bad timing" and let out a breath I hadn't known I had been holding. My wings are hurting more and more and more by the second, squished up against my back in an awkward position, basically suffocating them. I haven't learned to use them, because the scientist won't allow it. I haven't had them out in two days, though, and it hurts like Hades. _

_Luckily, or unluckily, my body and mind hasn't had another paroxysm take place just yet, which I am more or less thankful for. The Voice hasn't talked to me since this morning, and I start to wonder why. But I don't wonder for long, though, because I apparently jinxed my almost nonexistent good luck. _

_My mind starts exploding in the most insufferable way. Colors and lights and days and nights and pictures and memories—and anything else you can think of—burst across my mind in a sort of dance. I know the cycle has fully started when I hear a high-pitched screech, signaling that I have started screaming. _

**_Um…Yeah. _**

_Just growing pains, _the Voice tells me later on during Spanish class. _That's all it was. _

_How come it took you so long to tell me this? _I ask it. It's been a week since "growing pains" came, and the Voice is just _now_ telling me what the heck it was.

_Because, Max, it took me a while to remember what that means! _

I shake my head at the Voice and continue finishing my schoolwork, speeding through it all. _Yeah, well, you're the Voice; you're supposed to already know these things! This is what I have you for! _Okay, so that's not actually spot on. The Voice is supposed to already know this, but that's not the reason he's in my head.

_Max, you know the reason I'm here is because I was supposed to help the School keep you under control without having to kill you, not to give you the answer to everything._

_I'm doing my work on my own now, aren't I?_ I say, just because I know it annoys him.

_Max..._he says in his warning tone.

I sigh. _Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. _

**_Lines. _**

Ella runs up to me after Spanish class, since she's in my 6th period class, Fang next to me. "Hey! Anything exciting happen while I was gone?" I snort. _Unless you count having just found out that your wings are growing and thus they won't be able to keep concealed for much longer, then no, _I think bitterly. But I just shake my head.

"Oh. Me neither. I guess school is just pretty boring to begin with." I smile, though it's sarcastic on the inside, and nod my head. Fang doesn't say anything. I look at him and see that he's staring at his shoes, no expression, apparently thinking. Ella has to call him a few times before he hears her, snapping his head up to look at her. "Fang! Are you okay? You seem kind of out of it," she tells him. He just shakes his head and mutters, "No, no, I'm fine…"

**_More lines. _**

_I'm so glad you don't have aerophobia , _the Voice tells me in a matter-of-fact tone. I'm soaring through the air, wings flapping in a rhythmic pattern, wind rushing past and giving me a feeling that only flying does. It's been a week and a half since I was first assigned to help Fang, and since then, he's actually grown into our little group of misfits. I like it.

_What's that? The fear of flight? _I ask, being sarcastic. I don't know what it means, but I do know it has something to do with what I'm doing.

At least, I think so.

_Actually, yes,_ he tells me, in a completely serious tone.

_That was sarcasm, _I notify him in case he didn't catch onto that.

_I know._

_What would happen if a kid they gave wings to had that? _I ask him, the thought just striking me. I wonder what the School would do about it.

_…They probably wouldn't do anything, _the Voice informs me after a moment of pause to think.

The clouds are all passing me by in one giant glob; the shapes are unnoticed by me. I am in turbo-drive right now, flying over 200 miles an hour. My wings haven't even begun to get tired surprisingly.

My wings are a brown color with darker brown specks, kind of like freckles. On the tips it's completely white, and then it goes into a light brown, getting darker as you keep going until, near the bones that connect to my back, it is almost black. My step-mom is always telling me how beautiful they are, but I never believe her.

Speaking of which, I'm not surprised that my dad, Jeb, hasn't come to check if I'm home from school. It's been an hour since the bus dropped me off. Normally it takes him about an hour and a half, so he should be looking for me soon.

I make up my mind that I should get home soon, so he doesn't scold me for "scaring him"—not that he cares, anyway. Tucking my wings up against my back, I shoot like a rocket down to the ground, (not-so-) gracefully landing in our backyard. My house is in a pretty inaccessible area, so that means I don't have to be as carefully with my wings. Honestly, I love it because of that. Plus, the house is pretty amazing itself. It's nothing big, nothing aristocratic. Just a small, brick house, with white shutters and a pretty average porch. But it seems so cozy, so homey, that you can't help but love it, despite the small size. And anyways, it's not like my family needs a big house. We have a total of three people living here—my step mom, my dad, and me. We have a cat, too, Astara (don't ask about her name), but she doesn't exactly take up a lot of space.

My room cliché-ly has a balcony. I guess it makes some sense, though, because of the whole, "mutant with wings" thing. I think Mary (my step mother) wanted me to have it, just so I could have easy access to the outside, need be. I like my balcony a lot. It makes it easier for me to go night flying.

I enter through the backdoor, which is glass and sort of heavy, but not that hard for me.

No one is in the den when I come in, but there's a lump of tan fur sitting in the La-Z-Boy—my cat.

"Hey, cat," I greet, coming over to where she's perched on the armrest. I scratch her head and behind her ears, and in turn, she purrs. Astara is a great cat; really, she's just sort of lazy.

I set my book-bag on the couch and plop down next to it. I reach for the remote, and flip on the TV. The first thing that comes on is the Science Channel.

Figures.

Astara meows and slowly makes her way next to me. She rubs her head against my hand, asking for attention. I pick her up, set her in my lap, and rub her head while I flip through channels. "You need a lint roller," I comment, picking off the cat fur that had gotten on my hands from petting her. Astara gives me the dirties luck I have ever seen a cat give.

She's very smart.

Then, there comes a noise from near the stairs, and I snap my head to look at it. No one is there, so I call, "Jeb?" No reply comes. I pull Astara off my lap, her giving a meow of protest, and get off the couch.

I walk around to the other side of the house and back and still see no one. I run up the stairs and look around, but he is not in his office and Mary isn't there either. I start to worry, thinking that something bad happened to them while I was out flying, but then push that feeling down, because I know it doesn't help me at all.

I turn around a corner, peering into one of the back rooms that I don't usually go into. "Mary? Jeb? Are you there?" Only a creek of a floorboard to my right answers me. I face that general direction. Another comes from my left. I turn in _that _direction.

I see a flash of black, gray, and white pass my line of vision. I swivel around. A vision of a Wolf/Eraser from back when I was at the School flits through my mind. My breathing quickens. Did they really find me? Have they finally come back to take me to that heck hole again and torture me once more? Could they possibly be planning to take away my wings or the Voice or any of the powers they gave me without meaning to?

I decide that before I jump to conclusions, I'd better call them. So, I grab my phone off my bedside table and dial my stepmother's number.

Only to be answered with her voice-mail.

That's when I start to worry.

I usually don't call Jeb, considering he doesn't ever answer his phone, but I do anyway, because, as much as I hate to admit it, I am getting sort of freaked out right now.

For the first time in…well…ever, he answers. "_Hello?"_ I breathe a sigh of relief. I almost thought for a second that…"Jeb? Where are you?"

_"At the groceries store with Mary, why?"_

"You freaked me out! I have been home alone for about an hour and a half, and Mary wasn't answering her phone. I heard something upstairs moving around, but nobody was there. Then...I thought...I thought I saw..."

_"Don't ya think it was just the cat?" _I shook my head, even though he couldn't see me. "No, Astara was sitting in my lap, downstairs. It could not have been her." I tell him, annoyed that he doesn't comprehend what I am trying so hard to tell him. I hear him sigh on the other side of the phone. _"Max, it was probably just your imagination. Okay, we'll be home in about twenty minutes. Bye,"_ He sounds like he's tired of talking to me, like I am wearing me thin just by asking to see if him and Mary are okay. He doesn't say, "I love you," or even let me say goodbye back before he hangs up the phone.

I groan and roll my eyes at him. He just doesn't _get it. _He probably won't ever, anyways. The sound was not a normal small-pet-animal-walking-over-creaky-boards-sound; it was more of a something-crashed/fell-down-sound.

That makes a lot of sense, I'm aware.

_Maybe he was right, maybe it wasn't anything. You could just be hallucinating again, you know._ I'm offended by his comment, because I haven't had a hallucination in almost a full year! Why should I start now?

_I do not hallucinate! I'm perfectly sane, thank you very much, Voice!_ I think my stubbornness amuses him, because he sounds quite regaled when he replies.

_Keep telling yourself that, Max, but you know you aren't._

**_Even more lines._**

The next day at school, I am especially tired. The night before, I'd been arguing with Jeb about whether or not I heard the sound. Mary was almost indifferent about it. She didn't think I heard anything, but she was more gently than Jeb was about it. She didn't actually argue with me—she just persuaded me. After much of that, I finally told them that I was probably just hallucinating.

But I don't actually believe that. At all.

I lean my head up against my locker door, closing my eyes, and breathing in and out a couple of times. Any small sound has set me off.

Though this made me tremendously tired, let me tell you something: paranoia saves lives.

"Max!" Ella bursts out behind me. I jump a little and spin around to face her, having not heard her. I can basically hear the Voice snickering right now at me. _Shut up, Voice!_

"Ella, you scared me," I tell her, turning back around, and putting in my locker combination. I can see her stare at me in disbelief from the corner of my eye. "I scared you? Oh, my gosh, the apocalypse must be coming! Everyone run!" She jokes, smiling. I shake my head. "Not the time, Ella. Not the time…"

She gives me a look, like, "how come?" but drops it. I am thankful for that. I actually look at her, and notice that she's wearing a simple outfit of a blue, floral skirt, black, thin leggings and a gray shirt. The shoes she is wearing, black Converse, are a pair that I gave her as a going-away present last summer. It's nothing like what I am wearing, which is just a dark blue sweatshirt, a red t-shirt under that, dark-wash jeans, and purple Converse. I smile at her, "You look nice." She smiles back and says thank you. I continue to stuff anything I don't need for 1st and 2nd period in my locker, while Ella chats away to me about something that happened to her yesterday.

Suddenly the hairs on the back of my neck stick up, and I spin around, coming face-to-chest with Fang (I still curse the fact that he's taller than me). "Would you stop that?" I cross my arms, obviously annoyed at his lack of ability to make noise. He smirks at my annoyed expression. "Stop what? Breathing?" He asks in a complete monotone. I roll my eyes at his aptitude to vex me. "You know what I mean," I mutter, turning back around to my locker.

"Oh, hey, Fang," Ella greets, smiling warmly. I can basically feel him nod in her direction back. "Max is just in a snappy mood this morning, don't worry," she tells him.

I don't turn away from my locker as I say, "It is not my fault that my idiotic dad does not believe me." Crap it! I wasn't supposed to say that!

_Max, you still refuse to believe that you were, in fact, hallucinating?_ The Voice asks me. I almost shake my head at him, but then remember that Ella and Fang are watching me. _I wasn't hallucinating!_

"Believe you on what?" Ella asks me, tilting her head to the side, slightly. She always does that if she wants to look really innocent. Right now's the perfect time to, since that's the only way I'm going to tell her.

I sigh. "Just…stuff…" I still haven't told Ella (let alone Fang) about the whole, "_literally_ insane mutant with wings and a voice in her head" situation. I am not about to tell her now, in the middle of the hallway, during school.

"Stuff as in…?" Fang says for the first time since our little exchange of words. I shake my head and push a lock of blonde hair behind my ear. "I just…thought I heard something, and he…didn't believe me…" I know they won't believe that that's all that happened, but neither of them push. Just then, the bell rings, and we all go our separate ways.

**_ A lot more lines_**

"So are you going to tell us the full story anytime soon?" Fang asks later in the day, after our class with Mrs. Mercedes. I don't reply for a second, thinking it over. Should I tell him? I mean, I don't really trust him that much right now and I don't know if I ever will. I've only known him for a week and a half, but it...well, it feels like I've known him my entire life. Does that sound crazy? I assume it does. I've gotten closer with Iggy and Nudge, too. I'm almost as close with Iggy, Nudge, and Fang as I am with Ella! And it took me a year to do that! I think Ella at least deserves to know...I'm not sure about Fang and them, yet, though...

I sigh. "Later. Not right now, though. I promise."

I just hope I can keep that promise.

* * *

**Yes, I know, you all hate me for not updating this and "Pretend" earlier, but I've been stuck! I finally got inspiration for this chapter after quite a while of staring at a blank Word document. **

**For all of you who have read Pretend: No, I am not abandoning it. I just haven't had much inspiration for it lately. I don't know why, but I haven't. **

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	5. Chapter 5

It's been a couple of days since I promised Fang I would tell them what was wrong, and I'm still working on a plan and when I should drop the bomb. I'm not going to say something along the lines of, "Oh, hey, you guys! Sorry that I've kept this from you for so long, but I'm kind of a mental, genetically-enhanced/engineered mutant freak with wings and I have a voice in my head that can control exactly what I do when it wants to. Oh, and did I mention there probably are some psychotic evil scientist sending these half-human, half-wolf combo-things after me soon?"

Yeah, that'll go over just _fine. _

_Oh, don't be so pessimistic, _the Voice tells me.

_I'm not being pessimistic! I'm just being practical, _I defend back.

_Practical?_ He sounds amused now. I absolutely _abhor _when people laugh at me, so I just have to prove him wrong after this.

_Yes, _practical. _The best response I'll probably get out of them, is a strange look and not one conversation exchanged with any of them for the rest of my life, and if we _do _talk a couple of times, they'll flee very quickly, so as not to hang around "the crazy girl" for very long. Be careful! She might be contagious!_ I retort, bitterly. Really, I'm just babbling more to myself rather than him. It gets very aggravating when he doesn't listen to me, because then I would be talking in my head about this and that and blocking out the world for no reason once so ever.

"Max?" My dad interrupts my mental rambling by calling my name from the kitchen where he is cooking dinner, holding the house phone in one hand, a knife poised over some vegetables in the other. I'm sitting on the couch, staring blankly at the TV. Mary doesn't like cooking (she can't cook, either. Her and I both can burn cereal. Do not ask how.), so my dad always has to do it if we want to eat something actually edible. "Yeah, dad?"

"Phone," he tells me simple, holding the house phone out in my direction. I raise an eyebrow in question, but get up and take the phone anyway. "Who is it?" I ask him, taking the phone out of his open hand. He goes back to cutting the vegetables with both his hands. "Some girl I assume is from school." I just nod, even though it didn't really answer my question. "Oh, well, then I'm going up to my room, okay, Dad?" I tell him, though I'm already half way up the stairs. He just nods, not looking up.

What a caring father.

Sarcasm, my dear, dear fellow humans.

"Um, hello?" I say into the phone, once I'm in my room, the door closed behind me.

"_Hey Max!" _greets a very familiar voice, flitting through the phone. She's basically screamed it, so I have to hold the phone away from my ear.

"Oh, uh…Hey, J.J." I say back, lacking all of the enthusiasm that she is.

You see, J.J is this girl in my grade, and she just so happens to be popular (surprise, surprise) and while she isn't one of the mean ones, we barely ever talk, so I'm taken by surprise when she acts so…happy to talk to me.

"Um, not to be rude or anything of the sort, but why are you calling me?" I ask her, sitting down on my bed.

"_To talk to you, of course! I was actually just wondering if you wanted to come to a party with me and some of my friends. You could even bring your friends along, if you want. " _The first thing I think to say, is _it's 'some of my friends and I,' you do not come first! _And my second automatic response that I most definitely _won't _say is, _Not in this lifetime, let me tell you. _

To say I dislike parties is the understatement of the year.

I want to deny it right away, I honestly do. But then I think about Nudge and Ella and how much they would love to go and how J.J is one of the most popular kids in school so she's bound to throw an amazing party, and how they will kill me if they found out that I turned down a _direct invitation from J.J! _For a "Social Cataclysm" (like myself) to get invited by one the most popular girls in school—a DIRECT INVITATION, mind you—would be like…I can't even come up with the right simile!

In other words: It. Would. Be. HUGE.

So what do I do? Oh, just the most imprudent thing I've ever done.

I accept.

**_…. PAGE BREAK! …Just thought I ought to let you know XD_**

"At least _someone _understands how…incredibly pointless this whole thing is," I say over the loud music to Fang, pulling him off to a corner so that we didn't get trampled by all of the people dancing.

The rest of our friends are off, either dancing or doing something or another. I think Ella and Iggy are dancing, and Nudge is off with some of her other friends, outside of us.

The oddest thing has happened so far: the Populars aren't ignoring or tormenting us! It is…wow. I never knew most of them are capable of being so civil! A couple of the already-nice Pops greeted us (including J.J, though she was with Lissa, which bothered me quite a lot, but whatever.) and some guys even asked me to dance. Though I declined, of course, since I'd rather not.

I see, out of the corner of my eye, Fang nod at me in reply to my statement. I give him a look, like _Seriously? No verbal answer? _He seems to have caught on to this look and just smirks at me, his eyes saying _'Course not. Why would I? _

I just glare teasingly. But it's ruined by the fact I'm smiling.

_I can just hear the bells already, _the Voice says in my head. I turn my head away from Fang's gaze, and glare (very menacingly, might I add) at the floor. _What are you on about this time, Voice? _

_Just the fact that you won't accept that you are in _love _with Fang! _He says.

I glare even harder at the ground, but my gaze wavers since I'm taken by surprise. Me? In love with Fang? No, no, no. Not happening.

_Why would you think _that_? _

He snorts (yes, I can hear that in my head), _Max, please, I can feel every emotion you do just by tapping into your brain, _he says. _I _know _that you like him. Even if _you _don't. _

My glare at the floor lightens up a bit, and before I can reply, I see Fang's fingers snap twice in front of my face. My head snaps up. "Hmm?"

"I'm going to the bathroom, okay?" I just nod in response.

A while later, I still haven't seen Fang, and I can't find any of my friends, so I start to just wander around. Sooner or later, one of the nicer Populars comes up to me, holding a plastic cup in one hand. It's a boy, named Dylan I believe, with brown hair, the most _amazing _blue eyes (yes, I admit it), and...well, he's pretty strong, to say the least.

"Hey! You're Max, right?" He greets, smiling warmly at me. I smile back, because his smile seems kind of contagious. "Yeah. And you're Dylan," I state, rather than ask.

It's probably one of the most awkward moment in my life.

After a bit of chitter-chatter, he asks me to dance, throwing his cup away in a nearby trash can. I honestly don't have anything better to do, and I can't find my friends, so I accept.

It's probably one of the most amazing moment in my life.

...

Not really. That's actually an exaggeration. Dylan is a good dancer, don't get me wrong, but...

Well...It is still freaking awkward.

Do you know what made my day worse? What I see afterwards.

So, Dylan leaves me alone to go get some more drinks, and me, being me, I don't stick around. Partially because I'm still curious as to where Fang went, since I haven't seen him in almost an hour, and partially because I know those drinks are spiked, and I do not feel like getting drunk anytime soon. I just hope that Dylan won't try to find me when he comes back and find I'm not there.

I wander around a bit aimlessly, until I see a flash of brown and pink. "Nudge!"

Nudge turns around and smiles at me, starting to make her way through the crowd to get to me. After a bit of, "excuse me"s and "sorry"s, she's finally in front of me. She doesn't have a cup, thank God, and she seems pretty sober, so I assume she isn't drunk out of her mind. "Hey Max! How do you like the party? Isn't it _awesome?" _she asks me, talking fast again. I don't answer her question, though, and just ask if she's seen Fang. Her eyebrows furrow. "Um, no, I can't recall seeing him since I left off with Alissa, and I thought he was with you." I shake my head. "He ran off about an hour ago, giving me some excuse about the bathroom and crap. But I've been looking for a while, and I can't find him. Do you know where Iggy and Ella are?" I figure that if I can find Iggy, I can find Fang. They seem to get along quite well.

"I saw Ella a while earlier in the kitchen, but I haven't seen Iggy." I tell her thanks, and set off.

It isn't for another half hour before I can find Fang (after some help from quite a few people), and turns out, he was on the porch the whole time.

Guess who he was with?

Yes, that's right.

Brigid.

Not Lissa, _Brigid. _In all her sleazy, clone glory.

And they were _kissing. _

Disturbing, much? _  
_

**_Ahaha! Yet ANOTHER page break! What now!_**

"Nudge? NUDGE?" Ella has to call Nudge's name _seven times _before she hears her. "Huh?"

Ella gives her a weird look. "I just asked if you and the gang wanted to hang out tomorrow after school, and every said yes but you." She looks very concerned. "Are you alright, Nudge?"

Nudge nods her head and tries to smile, though it turns into more of a grimace. "Yeah, I've just had a lot on my mind." She doesn't elaborate, but just leaves it at that.

Nudge has been acting strange ever since we left the party, not talking a lot, and spacing out.

It's two days after the party, so Monday, and she still hasn't rambled _once _since we left.

I'm pretty sure every one of us was freaking out about her, since she's never been this out of it. I think it is scaring Iggy, since he's her sister (lived with her for eight years) and she's _never _acted like this. I've only known her for about a year, and I know this is not a normal thing for Nudge.

"So can you?" I ask her, trying to change the subject. I can tell that everyone is getting fidgety, and Nudge doesn't seem to like the way the conversation is going, because she isn't meeting anyone's eyes, something she always does.

She nods, her curls bouncing. "Sure, I don't have anything else to, except, you know, study, but I can do that either when I get there, or before."

That's the closest she's come to rambling since we got in Ella's mom's car and drove away from the house.

I think her miniature babble was suppose to reassure us that she was okay, but it just makes us even more worried, since if she has to reassure us, then we know she's hiding something.

*******A WEEK LATER******

"I'm going to go to the bathroom, okay? I need to reapply my makeup," Nudge tells us, getting up from her spot at the lunch table and throwing away her tray.

I just looked at her makeup a second ago. Everything is the way it was when she arrived off the bus.

For the past couple of days, Nudge has been looking and acting…strange. She's been acting like she has something to hide, and every day she goes to the bathroom after lunch and stays there until the period bell rings. A couple of times, she's even not shown up to the next. And I would know. I'm in her class.

She's looked different, too. She seems thinner, but not in the good way. She was already extremely small before, and now…it just looks ghostly, she's so thin.

She's been wearing nicer clothes and more makeup and has been doing her hair up more and straightening it. Before, she'd wear maybe a plain, green v-neck shirt and some straight-leg jeans with a pair of flats, and little makeup (since she doesn't need much, anyways). But lately she's been wearing all these frilly, short skirts, and tight shirts, and they were always girly colors. She always has high heels, and never Converse, like she'd use to wear sometimes. Nudge's face would be caked in makeup and her hair done up in some, silly, way-too-fancy-for-school kind of hairstyle.

She looked like a Popular.

Like Lissa.

Or worse…

A _clone. _

And, God, did it _scare _us.


	6. Chapter 6

Today, it'll be exactly one week and six days since the party. Nudge is still acting weird. I haven't really had a comfortable conversation with Fang since I saw him...*gag* _snogging Brigid_, and Iggy and Ella seem to be having some…er, _problems_.

In other words: they've been fighting.

I know, I know. I was upset when they started not-just-bickering-fighting a couple of days ago, but I'm sure they'll work it out. They always do.

It's Nudge I'm worried about, really. She hasn't changed since last week. Except she seems to be losing weight a lot faster than she should be able too, and hanging out with other people.

She walks into the classroom wearing the kind of thing she has been for a while now. A blue jean mini skirt, a green, stripped crop-top (nothing underneath) and high-heeled sandals.

When she walks into the classroom, she's with Jane, who isn't really mean, but just sort of sleazy and a tad bit stuck up. Not as much as some other girls, though.

I'm happy Nudge hasn't walked in with Lissa, though I doubt she would. Nudge may be acting weird, but she isn't insane.

She doesn't really acknowledge me when she walks in. All eyes are on her and Jane (I have no idea why) but she doesn't even say hello when she takes her seat next to me.

I give her a perplexed look, but she ignores it and starts putting away her things and getting ready to take notes, since the teacher has just walked in.

"Hey," I whisper to her, since she obviously isn't going to say anything first. She nods her head but doesn't say anything, and pretends to be writing something down on her sheet of blank paper. The teacher isn't even talking, so I wonder what she could possible be writing down. She's already written her name, date, and period.

Something is off.

_Like usual_, the Voice says, trying to be cute and make a joke. I actually roll my eyes. _Not the time, Voice. I am busy contemplating whether or not Nudge is becoming a clone._

_I highly doubt that._

_Why so, Mr. I-Know-Everything-Even-Though-I-Should-Only-Know-What-Max-Knows? _I make a face with this, even though I know that he can't actually see it.

"Ms. Ride?" The teacher calls. I pull my eyes up from the desk and see that he is standing right in front of me. I harden my expression, put on my poker face, and straighten up. "Yes, sir?" I always play the innocent and polite card first.

"Would you care to look at the board and pay attention?" He asks, even though I know that I don't have a choice. I roll my eyes (mentally, of course) and say another polite yes, before writing down whatever it is I needed to write down.

After class, I see Nudge walking in the hallway with Jane again. I'm about to approach her when I see that she's said good-bye to Jane and is walking towards the bathroom.

Well, curiosity killed the cat.

In this case, I am that cat.

I know I shouldn't, but I'm going to. I mean, I don't mean to be nosy or anything, but I'm seriously worried about Nudge, and if Ella knows what's wrong, she isn't telling anyone.

I follow her in to the woman's restroom and hide behind the wall separating the door and the actual stalls. I hear footsteps, a door close, and then throwing-up sounds.

I gasp, and then cover my mouth. Oh my God, Nudge! I know why she has been going to the restroom specifically after lunch!

I run out of my hiding spot and see that Nudge is in the handy-cap stall, with the door wide open, and she's sitting there beside the toilet, holding her head in her hands.

"Nudge! What are you doing?" I practically scream at her, furious. She says, "Max? Why did you—?"

"Never mind that!" I say, frantically waving my hands in the air. "Why are you making yourself throw up?" I ask her, still angry, coming into the stall, and sitting down next to her.

She shakes her head. "I don't know…" she mutters, not meeting my eyes. She starts playing with the hem of her skirt, something I know she does when she's upset, guilty, or ashamed. Right now, it's probably all of those.

"Nudge," I say, taking her shoulders. "Listen to me: I don't know why you started doing this, but you scared all of us to freaking death!" I scold her. She shakes her head again, and I see that there are tears in her brown eyes. "I'm sorry…"she tells me.

My hard gaze softens. She looks so much like a little girl right now. Lost, and having nowhere to go, just needing someone. "It's okay."

That's when she starts crying. I don't know how long we sat there, me hugging her awkwardly, Nudge balling her eyes out, but sooner or later, she pulls away, her makeup completely messed up. "Now," I say, once she's done wiping her tears away with her hand. "Can you tell me why you started this?"

She nods, looking me in the eyes this time. "Well, it was when we were at that party and you guys had all branched out. Lissa and her friends came up to me and they started…well, they said I was fat and talked way too much and things like that…I suppose I believed them and I don't know why I did since I know that they're jerks and stuff and sluts and just mean and things, but for some reason this really, really bothered me and I figured the only way to stop it was…well, you know…" She rambles, looking down from me. My jaw drops. "That bi—" I start, but then we hear someone walk into the bathroom, and jump up and out of the stall.

Later, once we are out of the bathroom and no one's around, I ask Nudge is she wants to tell them herself, or is she wants me to, and she says she wants my help telling them, but now she wants to get out of her clothes. I agree to help her and we go search through my and her locker.

Luckily for her, I found some extra clothes that could fit her that I kept in my bag. Nothing special, just some old jeans, a pair of old Converse (I kept them there in case Ella makes me wear high heels and I need to change) and a tank top. She's going to wear the crop top over it, and go without socks.

After scrubbing off all of what's left of that crap/makeup, we already missed a period and a half, so, we think, "What the heck?" and skip the rest of that period by just going outside and talking.

Well, Nudge talked most of the time, but whatever. I liked hearing her ramble after so long of her silence.

**_…. I need a bigger vocabulary…_**

"So...Ella and Iggy aren't talking?" I ask Fang while him; Nudge, and I are on our way out of the school later that day to go wait for the buses. I saw Iggy earlier, and he looked kind of depressed, but I didn't think asking him about it would help. I'm pretty sure it would've just made things worse.

Fang nods at me and I let out a breath of air slowly. There's so much drama going on within our group right now, it's not even funny. First, Fang comes (that one's actually good). Second, I find out the school might be coming after me. Third, I see Fang kissing Brigid and it upsets me..._A LOT_. Fourth, Nudge starts acting like a clone. And fifth, Iggy and Ella are fighting again.

Oh, Joy.

Just throw in a school dance and we have a bad soap opera!

Nudge starts babbling about something or another, but I'm not really paying that much attention. I run my fingers through my blonde hair, pulling out the knots as I do so. I wince when I get my finger caught in one big tangle, and have to wrestle my hair free of it. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Fang give me an amused smirk. I glare at him in return. I can't really help but smile, though, because it's the first contented exchange we've made since the party. "Shut up," I mutter. Luckily, Nudge doesn't hear me. I don't want her thinking I meant that to her.

Nudge stops talking for a second and looks at us expectantly. "Well? What do you think?" She asks us, and I realize she thought we were listening.

I put on a completely fake look of understanding. "Um, I...I..." I can't say the wrong thing, because then she might get upset, and I really have no idea what she was talking about. I see Fang holding back laughing from beside me, seeming entertained by my stuttering. I elbow him in the ribs. Hard. "I think...I don't know what I think actually. Fang? What about you?"

I turn to him, now putting on a look of innocence, except this one is convincing. He glares at me.

Nudge groans. "Oh, my God, you guys weren't listening." She sounds exasperated and I understand why. We haven't been paying attention to her ramblings all day, and she asks us one simple question...and we don't answer. Probably pretty frustrating.

"Well, kind of, I mean, I heard some of it, I just..."

"Not at all, actually."

I give Fang a look like, _seriously?_ And go back to Nudge. It looks like her patience it running thin. "I just asked you guys if you think I should go out with Sam Harks, since he asked me out before lunch."

I wrinkle my nose up, disgusted. Really? Sam Harks? He's probably the most sexist, and obnoxious boy in the school. He's also a cheating, dirty, good-for-nothing, liar. And I should know! I dated him a year back!

You see, he asked me out last year, and, being the completely ignorant teenage girl I was, I thought he was just being nice. No, he was just doing because of a FREAKING BET. He had a girlfriend (Julie) but I didn't know that when I accepted his invitation. He was nice at first, and kind of charming, too. He's really good looking, and he knows it. He kissed me on the first date, and we were one of those kind-of-a-couple-kind-of-not couples after that. I broke up with him when I saw Julie and him sucking faces at a little coffee shop downtown.

That wasn't the worst part, though. He looked out the window, and _freaking looked me in the eyes_ for a couple of second while he shoved his tongue down her throat and I stood there, shocked.

Needless to say, I didn't talk to him after that.

I shake my head a Nudge. "No," I tell her, my tone stern. "Absolutely not." Maybe this seems selfish, but really I'm just trying to keep her from heartbreak.

I would've appreciated it if someone had done that for me.

She gives me a confused look. "How come? What, do you not like him?" That's probably the shortest thing I've heard her say today, but I brush off the urge to comment on it. "I went out with him last year, and, oh, my God, he's _such_ a jerk." I tell her. It dawns on me that that last statement made me sound like some boy-crazy, Mary Sue book/movie/TV show character.

Fang butts in. "Why? What did he do?" Fang has a way of saying only a few words, but making it seem like he's saying a lot more. I shrug in reply. "Oh, you know, the stereotypical thing: cheated on me."

Nudge gasps and then shakes her head. "Oh, I am _definitely _turning him down now! No way does anyone go breaking the heart of one of my best friends! Ooh, and I am so glad that I didn't make up my mind then and there because, you know, I probably would've said yes and stuff just 'cause he seemed sweet and cute, but now I don't even—"She is caught off by a voice saying behind us, "Nick! Wait up!"

Brigid comes running up behind me, waving her hands in the air, her dyed blonde hair flowing behind her. I think that she must be wanting to see him really badly if she's willing to run in those high heels.

My expression hardens, and my facial expression becomes aloof, something I learned from Fang.

She squeezes in between Fang and me, since Nudge is on my right, and said boy on my left. "Hey," she greets, out of breath from running. He says a hello in a full voice, seeming kind of glad, and my poker face wavers for a second, showing my surprise that he seems almost—I dare say it—_happy _to see her. But then that emotion is gone and I'm back to being like fogged glass—almost impossible to see through.

"So, Nick, I was wondering…" Brigid plays with her hands, looking shy and like a little girl, but that whole "look" is ruined by her sleazy outfit. "If you, you know, wanted to…maybe…" she stutters like she's actually nervous, but I get the dreadful feeling that that's part of the act, too. "I don't know—go out sometime?" She's finally gotten everything she needs to say out, and I roll my eyes when I know she isn't looking. Seriously, I understand if she's going to play the innocent-little-girl-I-am-so-freaking-nervous-please-don't-turn-me-down card, but she's seriously overdoing it. I have the sudden urge to tell her that, but I'm not that mean, so I leave it alone.

I seriously am not anticipating for Fang to actually agree to go out with her and this makes my eyes widen and a, "What?" come out of my mouth before I can tell my lips to stop moving, and my voice to stop talking.

They both look at me, surprised. Brigid looks surprised that I had the guts to butt in, and Fang looks surprised that I seem so aghast.

I shrink down and look away, apologizing and telling them to carry on as if I weren't there.

* * *

"So…you and Brigid, huh?" I start the conversation with, sliding into the bus seat, Fang after me. Nudge branched off a little while earlier, saying that her mom could pick her up from school. Fang and I actually ride the same bus, but he gets off a bit before me.

"Yeah," he replies, not looking me in the eyes. I can tell that this is a very awkward subject for both of us, but I don't know what else to talk about, so I just lean against the window and think.

I still wonder what the School is doing. I'm not sure if they've sent Erasers/Wolves after me yet, or if they plan to at all, but nothing suspicious like what happened before has taken place. I just plan to be ready if they do.

But I still don't know what to tell my friends.

After a couple minutes of silence, Fang starts the conversation (I know, gasp!). "So, are you going to tell us what's been bothering you, or just leave us all hanging like before?"

Of _course _he has to talk about that! I shake my head, irritated, and I think he caught on to that.

"Fang, I told you before: later. Not now. Now's too…complicated. What with Iggy and Ella, and then all of the—ahem—_other _stuff…" I mumble the last part under my breath, picturing Fang and Brigid kissing. I shudder. "When I actually have time to explain it all, I will, I promise. Just," I sigh before continuing, looking Fang in the eyes now. "Please, do not worry about it right now, okay?"

A little reluctantly, Fang nods. I sigh again. "Good. And thank you for being so concerned, but, really, it's nothing."

That's probably the biggest lie I've ever told.

He shakes his head. "But it's not just that, Max. I can tell, something recent has been bothering you." He states rather than asks, like he's completely certain that that's correct.

I start rubbing my shoulder, a habit of mine when I'm nervous. I do that when my wings hurt, too, and they kind of do now, but no enough to actually make me pay attention to it.

I give a dry laugh when I can't think of anything to say. "I'm glad that you read me so well, Fang, but, seriously, I'm fine." I give a reassuring smile at him, and he just sort of half-smiles, making my heart do some strange beating thing, and causing butterflies.

_Wait—what the freak was _that? _Butterflies? _I think. The Voice replies instantly, of course.

_You like—cough, love, cough—him! _He announces. I roll my eyes internally.

I look down, blushing, because Fang's gaze is making me feel self-conscious. I give a small cough, breaking the silence. I hope he doesn't see my blush, but judging by the smirk he's wearing, he's noticed. I hit him upside the head, and playfully tell him to shut up. Suddenly his gazes are locked with mine again, and, try as I might, I can't look away. It's like he's seeing through all of the fogged glass, even though I had put up my barrier right away. I don't understand it. How can he read me so easily?

After a moment, he talks again. "I was actually wondering if you, Nudge, Iggy, and Ella wanted to come to my house sometime this weekend." His words seemed rushed, like he wants to get out what he has to say before I can comment on it. Almost like he's embarrassed, but he's Fang, and Fang _never _gets embarrassed. Ever.

He's looked away from me now, studying his backpack. I shrug. "I don't have anything planned, so why not? Do the others know?" He looks relieved that I said I could and nods, answering my question. "I asked them this morning when you were off somewhere."

He seems to be in a very talkative mood, because he asks me where I was this morning during History class and it dawns on me that that was the class I skipped.

I start by just telling him a little bit of it, but then end up telling the whole story. I had forgotten how good it felt to get things out in the open, since I haven't in quite a while.

When I'm done, he still has on his impassive look, but I can tell by his eyes that he's concerned for Nudge. "Good thing you followed her," is all he has a chance to say before he has to get off the bus.

* * *

**Blah, blah, blah, crappy chapter, I know, whatever. I feel like my writitng is getting sloppier, but the I re-read it, and it seems fine to me. Why?**

**Peace, and review!**

***.*.*Flitting Wishes*.*.*  
**


	7. Chapter 7

**I am soooo ticked right now! Some butt-head meanies at my school spread roomers about one of my best friends. LIES! LIES I TELL YOU! Haha, but they got in trouble...:)**

**-Cough- Yeah, I'm pretty protective of my friends...**

**ANYWAYS! ONWARD!  
**

DISCLAIMER: **Nope. Still nothing. **

* * *

You know how when a bird pulls in its wings, it pulls them in so tight that it looks as if they aren't there at all? I've always been able to do that with my wings, and they've never been noticed. Mary says that sometimes she forgets I even have them, thinking of me as just another completely normal, fifteen-year-old girl.

If they're concealed so well, then why do I feel so nervous that my friends will find out about them?

Today, Saturday, I'm going over to Fang's house, along with Nudge and Iggy. I would ask Mary to take me over there, but she left on a business trip to Nevada just yesterday, so I'm stuck asking my dad.

"Uh, hey, Dad?" I ask attentively, coming up behind him in the kitchen. He's sitting at the table, typing at a lightning pace on his computer. He barely looks up, but replies with a "hmmm?"

"I was wondering if you could take me to a friend's house." I'm careful to not go into detail, because while he doesn't really pay attention to me a lot, he's very protective of me, _especially _when it comes to boys and staying out late.

He stops typing and turns around to look at me, shutting his laptop, and standing up. "Who?"

I knew that was coming, but I still didn't have anything prepared. I answer, "Oh, you know, just—just one of my friends from school."

"Who?" He repeats, an edge of steal slipping through his voice.

I'm quick to answer this time. "My friend, Nick, but I'm not going to be there alone, Nudge, Iggy, and possibly Ella will be there too and he's really nice so I don't think that you should worry and I'm not staying the night and—" I'm cut off by Dad holding up his hand, gesturing for me to stop. I do, out of breath from talking so much.

He sighs. "It's fine, Max, you don't have to explain. As long as he's _just _a _friend."_ He emphasizes both words, getting the message across that I'm not to be dating him or anything, and I'm okay with that because I wasn't anyways.

I sigh from relief. I figured before that Dad would be upset at me or possibly refuse to take me. But he didn't, and I'm glad he didn't. I finally have some actual friends outside of Ella, and I am very thankful he's letting me go. "Thanks, Dad!" I say happily.

I do something I haven't done in a year.

I hug him.

For a moment he just stands there, unsure of what to do, but after a moment, he wraps his arms around me, returning the hug. It's one of those aww-isn't-that-just-so-sweet moments. I actually smile around him for once.

And I swear he's smiling too.

**_rawr_**

I happily run off upstairs after that to get changed, because, even though I'm not attracted to Fang like that, I still don't want to look like I've just woken up.

I change out of my sweatpants and tank top (my weekend clothes) and into a pair of jeans, a v-neck Giraffe Love t-shirt (courtesy of the Vlogbrothers) and my usual pair of Converse. I run a brush through my blonde hair quickly, and then stuff it all into a messy bun.

After that, I grab my jacket (it gets cold at nighttime, even though it's just late August) and run back downstairs to see Dad standing at the doorway, keys in hand.

"Okay, I'm ready to go." He nods and we leave for Fang's house.

His house isn't actually that far away, but I hadn't wanted to fly (too risky) or walk, since it's about two neighborhoods or so down (I don't have a bike). On the way there, Dad asks me some things about Fang.

"How old is he?"

"Fifteen."

"What does he look like?"

"Black hair, brown eyes, olive skin, kind of tall."

"Do you know if he has any siblings?"

"I think he has a little sister and a little brother, but I'm not sure."

"Is Ella going to be there?"

"Probably not, but Iggy and Nudge are."

"Does he have a girlfriend?"

"No."

He doesn't get to ask anything else, though, because that's when we arrive at Fang's house. He pulls into the drive way and I smile at the house.

It's nothing special, really, but kind of charming like my house. It's red brick and looks new, but not brand new, sort of like it's been here for maybe five years. There's a cute, little wrap-around porch, a fawn color. I can see a willow tree in the backyard, and one of those small, playhouses for kids. I'm guessing he has smaller siblings, then.

I hope out of the car, trying to get out of there fast and not have Dad follow me, but he stops before I can ring the doorbell.

"Max, wait," He calls, getting out himself. I groan. I appreciate the thought, but really, I don't need him interrogating Fang.

After my groaning, he tells me, "Max, you know I'm just doing this to protect you, right?" I nod my head, and sigh. There really is no getting out of this if I want to actually get to see anyone of my friends.

He follows me up the porch and I ring on the doorbell, nervous. I gravely hope he doesn't go overboard with the whole "protective dad" thing.

I see a little, blonde head look at me curiously though the window, and the door swings open a moment later, showing an adorable little girl, probably of the age of six or seven.

Her blonde curls bounce around on her shoulders as she tilts her head to the side, looking like a curious alley cat. "Hello," she greets in a small voice. I smile at her.

Dad steps in before I can say anything. "Hello. Who are you?" His tone isn't harsh and demanding like it probably will be with _any _boy he meets that I seem to like (even as just a friend), but friendly and kind.

"I'm Angel," The little girl says, and I can tell that the name is fitting, because she really does look like an angel from Heaven. Not only does her hair look like a halo, but she has the prettiest blue eyes I have ever seen, too. She smiles, showing her teeth, and I notice that her two front ones are missing (aww!).

Dad notices this, too, and smiles back at her. "Is Nick home?" I ask her. She nods. Dad says, "Can you go get him?"

Angel only nods again, turning to look over her shoulder and yelling up the stairs, "Fang! A pretty girl and a man is here!"

_She's so cute! _I think, which is, honestly, pretty out of character for me.

_Oh, are you going soft again? _The Voice asks jokingly, in it's tsk-tsk tone.

I don't reply.

Fang comes running down the stairs a moment later. I hear a girl yell behind him from upstairs, "You better not steal my laptop again!"

He rolls his eyes at this and comes to meet us at the door. He grins when he sees it's me, but looks at me questioningly when he notices my father standing beside me. I give him an apologetic look, and his eyes seem to say, _it's fine. _

"Hey, Max," He greets. I smile and nod back at him.

My dad breaks in. "I take it your Nick?"

I don't look Fang in the eyes, but choose to let them stray anywhere else, including just above his head. Fang nods. "Yes, sir, I am."

"Jeb Bacheldor, Max's father." Dad sticks his hand out for him to shake and he does.

Oh, dear Lord, just kill me now.

**_LINE._**

After what felt like an hour, but in reality was only five minutes, Dad is done questioning Fang about _every single thing. _

I'm fidgeting quite a lot by now and getting extremely nervous. I cross my hands over my chest and tell Dad, "Um, okay, Dad, you've meet him, you've asked him all you need to ask, you can go now." This may seem rude, but I really don't want to embarrass me anymore. (God, I'm sounding more and more like a normal teenage-girl every day!)

He holds his hands up in surrender. "Alright, Max, I can see I'm not wanted, but keep in touch, and no later than nine o'clock!" I nod my head at him, leading him out the door. "Okay, I promise I'll call when I'm on the way home, and yeah, no later than nine."

He pulls me into a half hug and tells me he loves me before saying good-bye and driving away. I sigh in relief.

Fang smirks at me, very amused by that. I play glare at him. "Shut up, at least he didn't go as far as he would have if not for my expert skills."

He rolls his eyes at me, but he's still smirking, so I know he's just playing around.

Angel is still standing off to the corner, just watching us. Suddenly, she pulls on my shirt and asks, "Are you Fang's girlfriend?"

I give a laugh for reason unknown to even me. "No, sweetheart, I'm not Fang's girlfriend. Just his friend."

She frowns, but doesn't protest. "Oh. Sorry, it just looks like you are." I smile again. So adorable!

After a while of just talking to Fang and waiting for the rest of them, we decide to play some videogames. Nudge and Iggy haven't shown up yet, so I suggest we call them.

He shrugs and pulls out his phone, dialing their numbers in quickly. He calls Iggy first, but Iggy doesn't answer, so he calls Nudge. Nudge answers, and I scoot closer to Fang so I can hear what she says well.

"_Oh, hey, Fang!" _Nudge greets in her usual, jocular voice. "Uh, hi, Nudge, are you and Iggy coming?"

_"Oh, no, sorry, some…stuff turned up with our parents so we can't make it. Is Max there or can she not come either?"_

In answer, he puts the phone to my ear and I say, "Heck, yeah!" I'm in a pretty good mood for some reason. I think it might be because I actually feel completely normal for once.

_"Hi, Max! When'd you get there? Are you sleeping over? OMG, I think you and Fang would be adorable together but you'd need a shipping name—what about…fax? Yeah, fax! That works! You know, like Max and Fang, you take off the 'f' and replace the 'm' with it and—"_

"NUDGE!" I scream, cutting her off. I'm aware of my blushing, but I don't really care. To answer her previous questions, I say, "Uh, just a moment ago, no, and I highly doubt that we're going to need a shipping name since we aren't even dating. And please don't talk that much on the phone. I can't slap my hand over you mouth then."

She laughs. _"Okay, well, sorry! I didn't mean to, but I still think you and Fang should get together." _I roll my eyes at this, but it's ruined by my smile. Fang is still holding the phone to my ear, but I don't take it from him.

"You sure you can't come?" I ask her. She sighs. "_No, sorry, but we'll be there next time. I have to go, bye!" _

"Bye, Nudge," I say right before she hangs up. Fang takes the phone away from my ear and he's grinning at me. "'Fax'? Really? Why not 'mang'?" I blush again, but stick my tongue out at him, being the mature, teenage girl I am.

A moment later, we're back to playing video-games and joking around. We get bored of it though, so we decide to watch a movie, despite it only being five o'clock.

We curl up with a blanket and some popcorn, me resting my legs on Fang's lap (I always need to be comfortable when watching movies), and are about to start _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone _when a girl comes running down the stairs, screaming Fang's name.

"_FANG!_ WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT TAKING MY LAPTOP?" Fang flinches, but other than that, he doesn't show any emotion. "Uh, not to?"

She's ticked off, I can tell, and she puts her hands on her hips. "Shoot, yeah! And don't leave your things up, either!"

I take a good look at her and notice that she looks awfully similar to Fang. Her dark, dark, dark brown hair (almost black) is pulled off to the side by a side ponytail, and long eyelashes frame brown eyes. She's slender and is wearing some Abercrombie shirt, shorts, and purple Converse. I notice some differences, though, like how she doesn't have the same long nose, small lips, and dimples. She seems to be about fourteen, maybe thirteen.

She loosens her expression, though, when she sees me sitting next to Fang. "Oh, hi, didn't see you there," I nod and smile back (I've been doing that an awfully lot lately).

"This is my sister Alyssa," Fang introduces us, "and Lise, this is my friend Max."

After she's done smiling at me, she turns back to Fang, narrowing her eyes. She has a black laptop under her right arm, and she pulls it out and holds it more securely in her left hand. "_Don't _take my things, Fang," and then she whips around on her heal and goes back upstairs.

"Well…that was, um…" I start, not sure what to think. She seemed okay, I guess, expect for the whole screaming-at-Fang thing.

He sighs. "Yeah, Lise is very protective of her things, especially her laptop."

I grin at him. "I can see that."

* * *

**Gahhhhh, crappy chapter! **


	8. Chapter 8

**I know, don't you all love me? Two updates in one week! And thanks for the reassurance, you guys, that means a lot to me :) So, without further ado, I present you...CHAPTER SEVEN! (I THINK) **

**DISCLAIMER: Shoosh, no!**

***.*.*Flitting Wishes*.*.***

* * *

About halfway into the movie, Fang's parents arrived after work.

"We're home!" A woman's voice calls from the front of the house. The front door slams and then I hear footsteps into the living room where we're both curled up in the blanket.

Fang's mother looks almost quite literally just like him, except in woman form. Actually, I take that back—instead, she looks like an older version of Alyssa. Same eyes, same hair, same nose, same everything. His _dad_ looks like an older version of _him. _

"Fang, can you—" She stops short when she sees me on the couch, a bowl of popcorn sitting between Fang and me. "Oh, hello."

I give an awkward half-wave. "Hi."

She smiles at me, something filled with warmth and sincerity. "You must be Max Ride," she assumes and I nod at her.

Mrs. Walker sets her pocketbook on the kitchen counter, still looking at me (the kitchen and living room are connected). "I'm Fang's mother, as you probably know by now." I nod again, smiling for real. She seems really magnanimous and like the (real) mother I wish I had. But then again, that wouldn't be fair to Mary, since she's basically the biological mother I wish I had, and is doing a fantastic job at it.

Mr. Walker breaks in the conversation. "And I'm his dad, of course." He smiles at me, which reminds me of when I saw Fang's half-smile just the other day. My heart starts doing that weird jumping thing again, just like it did the first time, just thinking about it.

_Oh, good Lord, what has gotten into me? _I think. Honestly, I'm turning into a Valley girl!

_Love has. _

_Can it, Voice. _

Alyssa comes down the stairs before I can scowl at the ground, wearing different clothes than what she was before. Instead of shorts, a t-shirt, and Converse, she's wearing a purple summer dress with a black belt, white leggings, and black flats. Her hair is just down, and it comes to about her shoulders. She's wearing makeup, not a lot, but still some. "Bye, Mom, Dad, Fang, Max," she says, heading towards the front door, sweater in hand.

She has one foot out the door, other in the house, when her mother says, "And just where do you think you're going, young lady? Dinner will be ready in a little bit."

She's not turned towards us, but I bet Alyssa flinched. Lise slowly turns on her heel to face us. "Um, yeah, about that…" she laughs uncomfortably, rocking back and forth on her heels.

Her mom puts her hands on her hips and gives Lise a hard look. "What do you think you're doing, going out late without telling us?"

"Mom, I'm fourteen, and it's only six! Plus, I _did _tell you, but you apparently weren't listening, like always…" She mutters the last part, and I assume I only heard it because of my super-hearing.

"Where are you going?" Fang asks, speaking up for the first time since his parents came in. Alyssa shrugs. "You know…on a date…"

There's a slight tightening around his eyes, something no one else could've been able to notice, but I do. "With who?" His voice has an edge of steal, still something not detectible but any normal human. If it were, say Nudge, she wouldn't have noticed at all.

Lise mumbles something almost incoherent, but I pick up on it. I manage to not let my surprise show. "Pardon?" Mrs. Walker asks.

"With Dylan, okay?" She says, louder.

**_…Line…_**

After a while of fussing, her mother lets her go, Lise complaining about how she's now late, and shouldn't have been held back that long. Mrs. Walker starts dinner, and soon we're all seated around the dining table. I sit next to Fang, of course, and Angel sits next to me.

A little boy, maybe ten or nine, comes down stairs for dinner after a moment. He's basically the boy version of Angel, and Fang tells me that his name is Zephyr, but everyone calls him Gazzy (Fang also said that I should pray to never have to be around when he lives up to the name).

It's sort of confusing, really, since Fang and his parents have dark hair and dark eyes; where as Angel and Gazzy have light hair and light eyes.

"Half-siblings," he tells me after seeing my confused expression. I nod at him, hoping he might explain more, but he doesn't, so I drop it.

Once a moment of awkwardly chewing our food is up, Mrs. Walker starts chattering to me.

"So," she starts, putting down her fork and looking me dead in the eyes. "You're the famous Maximum Ride." I give a weak smile, feeling very uncomfortable. "I guess I am."

"I've heard a lot of good things about you from Fang," I blush, looking down, and don't reply, hoping they don't notice the new addition of color to my face. Fang talks about me?

_No freaking duh, Max, _the Voice puts in.

I ignore him.

"Just as pretty as he says, too," Mr. Walker comments. There is seriously no hiding my blush now, and I glance at Fang quickly and noticed that he looks really embarrassed. Almost more than me.

_Admit it, Max, you two are madly in love, _the Voice puts in, _again. _

_...How long are you going to try to convince me of this? _

_Until it gets through your stubborn head. _

_Well, then it isn't happening any time soon, _I think, still embarrassed from the previous compliment. Speaking of which…"Thank you," I mutter, still not looking up.

There's another couple of minutes where no one talks (beside Angel and Gazzy, who are chattering on and on about this and that) but then we slowly start to feel less uncomfortable and start our own conversations. The maladroit air is slowly clearing up.

Mrs. and Mr. Walker have started their own conversation, so I try to start one with Fang.

"Have you seen Mrs. Mercedes lately?" I pick at my corn for a moment, waiting for him to answer. He shakes his head. "Oh. I haven't either. Doesn't it seem like forever since she assigned me to show you around school?" I ask him. He does that deadly half-smile and nods at me. I don't even control it when I smile back at him.

Once dinner is over, Fang's mother asks him to do the dishes. I propose to help him, so he won't have to do it alone.

We end up spending most of our time in silence, but it's the contented kind, not the awkward ones.

After a while of that silence, we started talking again. Nothing in particular, just random things. He doesn't ask me about when I'm going to tell them, something I'm thankful for, but I can see that he wants to.

Fang is…hard to understand. Some times he's completely impassive, not letting any of his guards down, but then other times he'll have a moment (or two) where he lets you in on what he's actually feeling. I've only seen that a couple of times, but somehow, we're really great friends now. I don't know how that happened, but it did. And the scary part about it all is that, even though I put up my fog and glass a lot, it's like he can still read me as if I'm just another open book. I try _so hard_ for that _not _to happen, with _anybody _(maybe Ella, but that's different), for it to be like someone with dyslexia staring at a book in French. And yet…why do I like it?

_Because, you—_

_Don't!_ I think hurriedly.

"So what's going on with Lise?" I ask, drying off a plate and then setting it down on a dishrag to dry. He shrugs. "Growing up, I suppose." He lets the corners of his mouth come up for nothing but a second, and then it's gone. "I know that sounds stupid for me to say, especially since I'm only a year older than her." I nod in understanding.

"Why Dylan?" Dylan is…well, he isn't mean, and he isn't exactly one of the head Pops, but…well, honestly, he seems kind of obnoxious. To me at least.

"I honestly don't know. This is recent news even to me," he tells me, handing me another plate to dry off.

We finish the dishes twenty minutes later. There really isn't much to wash, but we talk and talk (well, mostly me, but whatever) the entire time, so we don't go as fast as we could have.

We go back to the couch and continue watching the movie after putting all of the clean dishes away. I throw the popcorn away, though, since we just ate dinner.

It's seven thirty when the movie ends, so we decide to put on another one. We're looking through the box of movies when I see _How To Train Your Dragon. _I give him a perplexed look, holding it up so he could see the cover. He says, "In my defense, that's Angel and Gazzy's," and I demand that we watch it.

"No," Fang refuses.

"Yes," I say back calmly.

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes, and that's final." He surprisingly doesn't argue with me after that, and I hand it to him to put in before snuggling back into my cocoon of blankets. He does, turning the lights off, and sitting down next to me.

The front door opens and shuts right after the previews have started. I snap my head around, going in defense mode, only to lose that when I see it's only Alyssa. She has a look of pure bliss on her face, and she's lightly brushing her lips with her hand.

"Hey, Lise," Fang greets. Alyssa doesn't reply but sort of floats up the stairs, to her room, I suppose.

We turn back to the TV and she doesn't come back downstairs.

I go back to trying to pay attention to the movie, but I can't, so I glance out the window, and then do a double take.

When I look out the window, I see a Wolf. No, not a wolf, like the kind that Little Red Riding-Hood got tricked by, but the kind from the School—or, more commonly known there—the kind of wolf they call an 'Eraser'.  
It grins at me.

I scream before I can tell my brain not to.

Unexpectedly, an excruciating pain splits through my brain, sickeningly familiar. I clutch my head, as if it would make it stop. I hiss in pain until it worsens and I'm screaming.

I manage to get one thought: _the Cycle!_

I think the Voice replies, but I'm too busy hurting to hear him. Even when he's in my own head.

Just out of old habit, I start kicking at anything that tries to touch me. My eyes are squeezed shut, so I can't see anything.

I think at some point the rest of the Walker family comes downstairs. I think at some point Fang yells my name over and over. I'm not sure. I feel hands on my shoulders, trying to get me to calm down. It's a familiar voice, and it soothes me enough for me to stop screaming so loud and kicking so hard. After some more of whoever-it-is talking to me, I calm down completely, but I still don't open my eyes, and my head still hurts more than any migraine that is physically possible.

I hear the same person ask me, "Max, you have to tell me—what's wrong?" and I manage to whimper, "It hurts…so bad…" before I can't hear them anymore.

Then I black out.

**_(This is where I was originally stopping it, but I'm not that mean, so MORE!)_**

I wake up to a bright light shining down at me, making me squint. The bed I'm lying on is rough and hard, not comfortable at all, and the blanket is scratching me. I can't see anything, but I hear people murmuring somewhere in the room. Though, I can only make out a few blips of their conversation. One time I hear, "…rushed downstairs…screaming…hurts…" The voice is very familiar, but I can't tell who it is.

The light is taken away from above my head, and I let my eyes adjust before looking around at everyone.

All of my memory comes flooding back to me when I see Mrs. Walker and Fang sitting in chairs near a window with a view leading down to a busy street, both looking exhausted.

I look around and realize that I must be in the hospital. I don't say anything, just looking at them.

Fang is the first to say anything. "Are you alright?" His voice is laced with concern, and I realize that he's actually let his wall down, and I can see that he's guilty, concerned, and…something else I can't tell. Fang gets up and stands by my bed.

I don't nod but lay back down against the bed.

"Max," Mrs. Walker stands up and walks toward me, standing by her son. "Are you okay? You worried all of us to death."

I take a long look at her before nodding. Fang yawns. I ask, "What time is it?" My voice is hoarse and cracks when I say 'time' though both of them ignore this.

Mrs. Walker glances at her watch before answering. "Twelve thirty seven A.M."

My eyes widen. What are they still doing here? I voice my thoughts. "What? Why are you still here?"

She gives me a smile, except this one is sad. "Like I told you, you worried us to death. My husband, Jake, took Angel, Gazzy, and Alyssa home about three hours ago when Gazzy and Angel began to doze."

I shake my head. "And you've been awake this whole time?" She nods. A wave of guilt washes over me.

She sees my expression. "Oh, no, dear, it's all right. We don't mind. It was actually Fang's idea to stay here with you."

He still has his wall down when I see embarrassment flash through his eyes before he puts that away and just lets his concern show. I smile sadly, just like Mrs. Walker, thinking about what happened before I got here. "Thanks," I whisper, because I don't want to strain myself. He nods and—get this—actually, fully _smiles. _Not a half-smile, not a grin, not even a smirk—a _smile. _

I barely manage to remember how to breathe and he notices this. Instead of smirking at me or being arrogant as a joke, he ignores it, and just keeps smiling.

I look away, because if I don't, I'll forget how to even think properly. I glance at Mrs. Walker and see that she's giving Fang a knowing smile.

A moment of silence passes before I ask her, "Where's my dad?"

She sighs. "He came to check on you maybe an hour or two earlier, but you were out cold, so he left to get some sleep himself. He was pale as a ghost when we told him what happened."

I nod. "Oh. Okay." I make the realization that he knows what happened. He probably doesn't know about the Eraser, but he knows about the head-explosion, that much I'm sure. After all, it _did _happen more than a handful of times when I was in—and out of—the School.

'The Cycle' is what I call what happens when something like before happens. It's a clear, predictable, painful cycle. It starts out not very strong, but then it changes to where I usually see things—things often coded or in a different language. Once I see those, I know the _really _painful stuff is about to happen. Once it does, I scream. When I was in the School, I would thrash and kick because the scientist would always try to do something to get me to stop (most of the time in even _more _painful ways, a lot longer). They never succeeded.

"Max," Fang starts, startling me out of my thoughts. "Rest. We just wanted to make sure you were okay and wouldn't…" He trails off and I catch on what he means.

He meant so that I wouldn't die.

I nod, suddenly taking count of how tired I actually am. You'd think I would've been well rested after being unconscious for four hours, but being unconscious and being asleep are completely different things. So I wave goodbye to them as the nurse opens the door for them, and let my eyes drift close, falling asleep only minutes after.

**_THIRD POV_**

Dr. Curtis didn't know what to think.

Everything was fine. Miss Maximum Ride was healthy, even healthier than normal, actually. Nothing was wrong. Then why did she get such a bad migraine?

They did tests on her. The things they found out where…inhuman, to say the least. She had hollow bones. Humans don't have hollow bones! And her blood cells were different, almost like the ones of a…

He stood up abruptly, almost knocking over the cup sitting next to him. He grabbed the files on Miss Max, and walked down the hallway, looking for Mrs. Manning.

He needed to talk to her.

He strode towards the familiar brunette when he spotted her, standing outside Miss Ride's door, closing it behind Mrs. Walker and her son. She said something to them, smiled, and they left.

She started down the same hallway as him, but stopped when she saw him walking towards her and waited. When he was close enough to shake her hand, he did, saying his greetings to her. She looked very, very tired, as was he, but they needed him to do tests on Miss Ride, so he had stayed.

"Mrs. Manning," he started urgently. "I _must _talk to Maximum, even if she's asleep." The nurse gave him a confused look, so he elaborated. "It's very urgent, honestly!" He handed her the files for her to see. She did so, peering at it curiously. In a hushed voice, he continued, "We did blood tests on her, and it seems she doesn't have the same blood cells as…well, as humans. And get this," He flipped the page to an x-ray of Max's bones. "All of her bones are hollow." Mrs. Manning's eyes widened, and she took another look at the picture, before asking in an equally as urgent voice, "Are you sure? Sure that there isn't any logical explanation for this?" She peered up at him with curious, worried, big brown eyes. He shook his head. "Now you understand why I must speak with her?"

Mrs. Manning sounded like she'd rather have to spend a week in the desert without water when she said, "She might be one of the experiments."

He looked the small woman dead in the eyes when he said, "I know she is."

* * *

**DUN. DUN. DUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHH! I know, so dramatic, right?**

**And we're back to the dark stuff...Greeaaattt...*sarcasm***

**Was it as sucky as my last chapter? These things you must tell me. You must tell me these things. Anyways, so, yeah, review!**

***.*.*Flitting Wishes*.*.*  
**


	9. Chapter 9

I wake up sometime later that day, the sun high in the clear, blue sky. No one is in the room, so I don't make any effort to really _wake up. _I just lay there, thinking, for a while.

My wings are aching very badly and my head is pounding from the…er…"migraine" when a very important-looking man in a white coat and graying brown hair walks in. He sees me looking at him, and says, "Oh, good, you're awake. I was hoping I didn't disturb you, but it seems I can't now." I give a weak attempt at a smile, trying to be polite to him. I'm assuming he's the doctor (no, not _the _Doctor, but…you know…) and therefore he's trying to help me, but that doesn't keep my heart from pounding in my chest and the sudden urge to flee as quickly as my hurting wings will take me.

"I'm Dr. Curtis," he introduces. I notice, for the first time, a file in his left hand, a few edges of papers showing, probably from being closed hurriedly.

Dr. Curtis walks around over to a small table in the corner of the room and sets the files on it, taking something out of it. He's saying, all the time as he shifts to find the right ones, "We found some very interesting things out while doing some tests on you, Miss Ride." And there it is again, the sudden urge to get out.

_Stay, _the Voice commands, and, even though the Voice doesn't have control yet, I listen to him. I clench and unclench my fists beneath the blankets, trying to calm my nerves.

"Yeah?" I finally manage to say, once I can find my voice. What did he find out and why does it seem so important?

"Yeah," He answers back, finally taking the things he needs from it, closing the file, and slowly pacing back and forth in front of my bed. He glances at me, then the paper, and then again at me. "We did some blood tests," He starts. My breath hitches in my throat. They don't know about it…

Do they…?

He continues, "and it appears your blood cells aren't ones of a human's. Can you explain that?" I don't answer.

After a pause to look at me, Dr. Curtis shows a picture of what seems to be some x-rays. "This," he said, pointing to one, "is an x-ray of your humerus, radis, and ulna."

"So, basically, an x-ray of my arm?" I somehow manage to speak again. I myself don't even know how.

"Yes," he nods. "But they're hollow, like a birds. Can you explain this one?" I still don't answer. How would I answer that, anyways? _Please, _I'm not gonna be like, "Oh, yeah, that's because I was experimented one as a kid at this place I call the School, and they kind of gave me wings and stuff, so, I'm part rapture." No way am I spilling to him.

I try to shrug and look nonchalant, but it doesn't really work out all that well because of how nervous I am. "How should I know?"

He sighs. "Maximum, I know what you are."

And that's really when my entire world collapsed.

**_*****The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out *_**

**_Fang's POV: (I know, aren't I awesome?)_**

_I know what you are. _

_I know what you are. _

_I know what you are. _

It's like a broken record, staying on repeat. I can't get it out of my head, I can't be rid of it, and I can't stop thinking about it. I want—no, I _need _to understand what the heck that means and why that doctor is saying that Max is something…non-human.

How is she not human? She acts normal. (Most of the time.) She looks normal. Though, she doesn't have that kind of…aura. She's different, I know that, but in a good way. Not in the freak way.

I'm so caught up in my thoughts, I miss what Max says next, but that snaps me back to reality, and I push my ear farther up against the door. Maybe I'm being nosy, but I honestly couldn't care less right now.

"Don't try to deny it, Max," I can hear Dr. Curtis saying to said girl. Max replies in such a shushed voice, I have to strain to actually catch what she says. "I'm not denying it, but I want to know _how." _

"Oh, it really wasn't that hard, honestly. After all, my son was taken there, too, you know, when he was sixteen. Somehow, he got out about a year later, and now he's twenty-one and in college." _Got out of where? _I think.

"What is he?" Max sounds less frightened, but more curious.

"Fox."

…_Um…what? _

"I'm assuming you're part bird?"

"Yeah. Raptor, to be correct."

_Excuse me? _

I don't hear what she says next since it's said so quietly, but I assume it was something private. After a moment of them talking in hushed voices, I can actually hear them again. "Can you not tell Mrs. Walker and, um, Nick, please?"

"You haven't told them already?" He sounds surprised and taken back.

"I was getting to it," she hisses back. "Just…please don't tell them. I don't want to be looked at as a freak from them like I am everyone else, and that's when I'm acting like a human."

A human? Max is acting like a _human? _But she's already human! Isn't she? It wouldn't make sense if she were anything else…

Right?

Unless she's like me…which is impossible. And absurd.

I shake the thought out of my head, trying to get rid of false hope.

They reply in lower voices, there's some shuffling about, a gasp, more shuffling, and then I hear footsteps coming towards the door. I hastily yank my hand away from the handle where it had been resting as if it were on fire, and sit on the bench next to the door.

A few seconds after I sit down, Dr. Curtis walks through the door, smiling at me. He tells me, "You can go see her now," as he leaves. I just sort of half smile back, nod, and get up once I see he's gone.

Cautiously opening the door, I call out, "Max?"

She replies with an, "Over here," and I come in the room all the way, to see her sitting upright in the hospital bed, a water bottle sitting next to her on the side table.

"Hey, Fang."

"Hey, Max."

******_* You left me in the dark*_**  


**_Max's POV: _**

A soft knock on the door, a "Max?" and "Over here." Fang comes in the room and I smile at him, greeting with a mutual "Hey." He replies the same, pulling up a chair and sitting down next to the bed.

"So…" he starts awkwardly, not looking me in the eyes for some reason, but rather, at anything else. "What was that about?" I give him a convincing, fake look of confusion. "What do you mean?"

"What'd he say?"

Oh. Woops. Never mind. "Oh, yeah, he said that I'm good to go. Nothing's wrong."

Fang nods, still not looking at me. "That's good. Did he say you could go home soon?"

I nod my head quickly. "Oh, yeah, he said I could leave today, actually."

The door opens and Mrs. Walker comes in. She sees us talking and smiles. "Good morning, Fang, Max."

"Hey, Mom."

"Hi, Mrs. Walker."

She sets her purse in a chair and walks near Fang. Putting her hand on the top of his chair, she says, "Your dad called, Max."

I raise an eyebrow. "Oh?"

She grabs the TV remote and flips through channels quickly before turning it off and setting the remote back down. "He said that you could stay at our house for tonight, since something important came up at work. He said he wouldn't be back until late Monday night."

I stare at my hands for a moment, confused. Something came up at work? What kind of something? "Okay. But I'll have to get my things from my house."

She says, "That's fine. We can leave pretty soon, can't we?"

I change into my clothes from before once I'm in the bathroom, very glad to finally be out of that itchy hospital gown.

Wait! How did the nurse's not notice my wings when they were changing me? _Voice, I know you had something to do with it, _I accuse.

The Voice replies, sounding very proud, _I have secrets, too, you know, Max. _

_Like?_

_Well, it wouldn't be a secret then, would it?_

I roll my eyes but don't push further.

The car ride to my house is pretty uneventful. No one talks. Mrs. Walker tries to, but then gives up when she sees that neither or us are in it. I think she wishes that the rest of the family were there, or at least _someone _besides us so that she wouldn't have to suffer the long and uncomfortable silence alone.

I'm watching building after building pass when a thought strikes me for, really, the first time. Why wouldn't Fang look at me? He almost _always _looks me in the eyes. Why was he so keen to avoid my gaze?

We pull into my driveway before I can really ponder about it too much. "I'll only be a minute," I tell Mrs. Walker and she nods.

I hop out of the car and run up to the front door, trying it if it's locked. It is, so, in one swift motion, I bend down and snatch the key up from under the flowerpot we keep on the porch.

Throwing the key down on the ground, I run inside and upstairs, not even bothering to close the door. It would only take a second.

I throw open my bedroom door, ignoring the mess I left it in. I seize my backpack (not my one for school, though I grab that too) up from the ground and dump everything on my bed. I snatch a pair of jeans, a blue/green blouse with a brown belt, a white tank top to go underneath that, underwear, and some pajamas. Stuffing all of that plus a toothbrush, toothpaste, socks, and a hairbrush in my bag, I sprint down the stairs again. Once I've managed to wrestle everything into it, I position my school bag on my shoulder and just hold the other in my hand, taking up the key from the ground and putting it back in it's original place. I lock the door behind me.

The car ride to their house is still silent, but less awkward than before. I get my cell phone out of my school bag (I left it by accident) and check to see how many times Dad called. The answer is: seven.

Fantastic.

There are also three missed texts, which are weird, since Dad doesn't like texting (I don't know why). Turns out, it's from Nudge.

**Nudge: **_hi max havin a good time at Fangs house?_

**Nudge: **_omg fang just told me what happened r u ok?_

**Nudge**_**: **__max?_

I reply back.

**Max: **_Yeah, I'm fine. Just got out and I am on my way to Fang's house. My Dad had something come up at work and won't be back until Monday, while my step-mom won't be back from her business trip until Wednesday. _

Only about half a minute is up after I hit 'send' when Nudge replies back.

**Nudge: **_Glad ur feelin better! :D Wat did the dr, say about u?_

**Max: **_He said that I was good to go and could leave, so we did. They did blood tests and x-rays on me, and everything was in order, so…_

**Nudge:** _Great! XD gtg, iggys making me help him cook and I really don't want to drop my phone down the drain or something ;) Bye!_

**Max:** _Bye, Nudge._

We pull into the drive way a minute after I put my phone away, and we all get out of the car. I hear my phone buzz from my pocket, but I don't check to see what it is. I can do that later, I suppose.

Mrs. Walker calls as she walks in, "We're here!" kind of like she did when she got home but a day or two ago.

Angel and Gazzy come running down the stairs and straight into their mother's arms, happy she's home. I smile. Little kids are so innocent.

After that, they go to Fang and he sort of half-smiles, but even then, it still makes my heart go into a series of small spazz attacks. He chuckles at something the kids did, and it sort of startles me, but I like the sound. A lot.

I set my things on the ground when Angel comes towards me and hugs my waist. I hug her back as best as I can, which isn't very well since she's a lot shorter than me and I'm standing up. I bend down once she lets go enough for me to do so, coming down to her eye level.

"Max, are you feeling better?" She asks me in her cute, little-kid voice, looking up with those adorable, curious blue eyes. I nod, still smiling. I see Gazzy let go of Fang over Angel's head and look at me with the same eyes. My smile widens. "Yeah, sweetie, I'm okay now." Gazzy comes and hugs me too, but not as much as Angel.

I don't know why these kids have this effect on me, but they make me forget about my worries and be happy for a moment. Not in the sense like Fang does (yes, I am admitting that most of the time, as long as he's happy, I am too) but just in the sense like they're my family, even though I know they aren't.

Alyssa comes downstairs a moment later to see what all the chatter's about. She smiles when she sees us but doesn't come down.

Hmm. That's strange. She seems more closed off. Like Fang.

Speaking of which, I need to ask Fang about the whole "half-siblings" situation, because I am seriously confused.

Mrs. Walker starts dinner a few moments later and tells me to just feel at home.

"I'll show you were everything is," Fang offers and I follow him.

As we're walking up the stairway, I ask, "Where am I sleeping tonight?"

He glances back at me but doesn't slow down. "Probably in Alyssa's room," and then he doesn't go in to detail about it.

Something's off.

"This is the bathroom," He points to a door across from another door in the hallway. "That's Alyssa's room," he tells me, pointing to the door across from the bathroom. "My room is the one next to it and Angel and Gazzy's is the one across from that. Our parents room is at the end of the hall." I just nod, memorizing everything.

There's one door left, though, next to Fang's door on the right. "What's that room for?"

He looks at it for about two seconds and then turns away, not looking me in the eyes. "That's nothing. Just an empty room."

I raise an eyebrow. "If it's empty, why doesn't Gazzy or Angel stop sharing a room and one of them just sleep in there?"

He shrugs. "I don't know. Never thought anything of it."

I don't argue with him after that.

Fang finishes and is about to turn back to his room and just disappear there for a while when I grab his arm, keeping him back. "Fang," I start. He tries pulling away, but I have a death grip. I am determined to find out what's wrong. I continue, "Something's bothering you."

He tries to yank his arm out of my grasp and almost succeeds, but I harden my hold again. "Nothing's bothering me."

I look him in the eyes, light brown on dark brown, searching for any kind of clue to what he's thinking. For a moment, before he has his wall up fully, I see something resembling worry and confusion, but then it's gone.

I'm surprised my legs haven't turned to Jell-o like they do almost every time I look at his eyes for more than a second, but they don't give away.

"You're lying," I state, still looking him in the eyes. I can tell he wants to break away from my stare, but I'm not letting him.

We end up staring at each other for what felt like forever but was really only five minutes. His gaze is…wow. I'm having trouble breathing properly again, and my legs are ready to collapse when I regain my self enough to balance my weight on my useless, good-for-nothing, excuses for legs.

After a moment, my clutch loosens until he can slip his arm out of my hand until his is holding mine and we aren't staring as intensely. "Nothing's wrong, Max," He says, before slipping out of my grasp completely and swiftly sliding into his room, leaving me standing in the middle of the hallway, still in a daze, looking like a complete idiot.

******_* No dawn, no day, I'm always in this twilight *_**  


I wake up later that night to go use the bathroom, while everyone else is asleep (it's, like, three AM). On my way out of the bathroom, Angel runs into me, crying silently. I hold her in my arms, shushing her sobs. "Angel, sweetheart," I start. She looks up at me with big, puffy, red eyes. "Can you tell me what's wrong?"

She nods, sniffles some more, and then clings to me again. She mumbles into my shoulder, "I—I—I—I had a * sniffle * ba—bad dream that—that you—you were in this—this place and—and—and—you were * sniffle * in a—a—a—dog—a dog cage—and—and they—they were poke—poking you with needles—and—and—you-you were screaming and crying and I couldn't come help you!" She starts to cry more, but louder. I shush her and rock her there for a bit, saying things like, "It's okay, Angel, it was just a dream, I'm alright," before asking, "Do you want to go see Fang?"

She nods, her messed up curls barely moving on her shoulders. "Ye—yeah." I pick her up and carry her to Fang's room. Holding her with one hand, I knock on the door with the other. I do a mental face palm. Of course he won't answer, he's probably asleep!

I turn the knob on the door slowly and step into the room. Turns out, his room isn't much different from his normal attire. Black, black, and black.

I go back to supporting Angel with both hands and slowly come towards his bed. I shake his shoulders a bit with one hand, and he doesn't do anything but swat my hand away. I put Angel down and she starts shaking him, too. "Fang," she attempts at whispering. "Fang, wake up!"

Fang's eyes snap open at this and instantly land on Angel's tear-stained face. "Hey, Ange," he greets, his voice sort of hoarse from not using it. "What's wrong, baby?"

Sitting up, he helps her on his lap and she snuggles up closer to him, wrapping her skinny little arms around his neck. She mumbles something incoherent into his shirt, and I explain for her. "Angel had a bad dream that I was in some place, in a dog cage, being poked with needles, kicking and screaming."

"And crying," I hear her mutter. I crack a small smile. "Yeah. And crying."

I couldn't understand why she would have a dream I was…well, in the School. How could she know about the School? They weren't…taken there…were they?

"But that's not all," she says, pulling away from his chest, looking at Fang and then at me. "Fang—Fang came when—when they started to—to take Max away, and everything—everything was okay for a bit because—because both of you—both of you were happy but—but then they took—they—they took—took Fang—Fang too!" She starts to cry again. Both of us comfort her this time. He wraps his arms around her small form as she started to cry harder, and I wrap my arms around both of them, making a sort of barrier around Angel.

Once we get her to stop crying, Fang wipes away some of her tears with his thumb. "Shhh," he whispers, "shhh, baby, it's okay, everything's fine now."

She nods her head. "I know, but it was scary," and hugs him again.

After a moment of me sitting there awkwardly, she pulls away, and Fang asks, "Angel, do you want to sleep with me tonight?" She nods again, rubbing her eyes with her tiny fists and yawning. I smile once more.

"Well," I start to say, getting up from the bed. "I think we better go to bed before we wake up your parents and Gaz and Lise." I'm about to start heading for the door when Angel grabs my hand. "Stay," she commands and then uses her pleading voice. "Please, please, _please _stay. I want to know you're safe along with Fang." I'm a sucker for Bambi eyes and end up sleeping on a pallet on the floor along with Angel and Fang.

Ahh, the power of an adorable little girl.

**_* In the shadow of your hear*_**

**Cosmic Love by Florence + the Machine.  
**

**The whole "Angel had a bad dream!" idea was almost entirely my friend, Sophie. (Though I sort of modified it to fit what I have planned) So all credit for that goes to her!**

***.*.*Flitting Wishes*.*.* **


	10. Chapter 10

**Sooooo sorry about the long wait! But I'm here now! :)**_  
_

**DISCLAIMER: I'm running out of things to say besides, "I DO NOT OWN MAXIMUM RIDE." **

***.*.*Flitting Wishes*.*.***

* * *

_I try to stop on my heels, eyes growing wide. I hadn't been looking, paying more attention to the Erasers chasing me, which would be why I almost ran off the edge of a cliff that I swear hadn't been there a moment before. I flail my arms out, trying to keep my balance, but let's face it: I've never exactly been the best at that. I give a pathetic yelp before I completely lose it and fall off the edge, face first. I some how manage to turn around while falling so I can see the Erasers grinning at me as I fall, their faces getting smaller as I get closer to the ground. My hair lashing around my head and the gown I'm wearing is whipping my legs, I can see that, but I don't really feel it._

_Suddenly, ground comes up beneath me and I'm standing up. The area around me has changed, too. Instead of woods with a cliff then a river bellow, I'm in a completely black room, excluding the one spotlight shinning on an empty chair a couple feet to my right. I blink, and all of the sudden a boy around thirteen or fourteen is tied to the chair. He has brownish-blonde hair and blue eyes that seem familiar, but I can't put my finger on it. "Rosalina!" The boy shouts after seeing me. I seem to run forward to the boy's side automatically and I say a name that is foreign on my tongue, my eyes going wide upon their own accord. My hands come up to the ropes around his hands, ankles, and torso, and I try to untie them. "Don't!" he tells me, looking me in the eyes and I look away from what I'm doing. He glances around warily before looking back at me. "They're coming. If they find you, then they'll take you, too. Just leave." My face falls. I say the name again, "You know I can't do that. Now…come on. I'm getting us out of here." _

_It changes again and I'm watching over a building as if it's a movie. The angle switches, and I'm now overlooking as a little girl with platinum blonde hair and spectacular blue eyes is being taken out of a cage. "Come on, freak," the man "escorting" her out says, pushing her and making her stumble. _

_It changes again. _

_I see something small coming at me out of the corner of my eyes, along with a, "MAX, LOOK OUT!"_

_Once more. _

_It's looking over a scene as if a movie again, and I see Iggy and a girl that looks like me talking. "Max," Iggy says, sounding tired and way older than fifteen, "you've got to be kidding me—I _know _something's wrong!" She just shakes her head and looks him in his sightless blue eyes. "Seriously, Ig, nothing's wrong! Everything's fine! Perfectly fine!" But even _I_ can tell the pain of something burning behind my other self's eyes, and I know Iggy can tell that little bit of strain behind her voice. She's obviously lying. _

_Then the image sort of breaks, like it's an old movie that keeps messing up, and falls like it's a piece of paper dropping, and behind it is another scene, in the same format. _

_The other Max is in the kitchen along with Iggy, Gazzy, and Angel. She's bending down into the refrigerator, looking for some kind of food, and Fang comes behind her. She whips around on her heel, her hair almost hitting his face. She puts her hands on her hips, looking frustrated. "Would you _stop _that?"_

_"Stop what?" Fang asks in monotone. "Breathing?"_

_The other Max rolls her eyes, turning back to the fridge. "Oh, you know what I mean." He grins and spins her around, kissing her on the lips like it's normal.  
_

_This scene would've been completely average, (you know, besides the fact that Fang kissed the other me...) except for the fact that every one of them has wings on their back, hanging limply through slits in their shirts. _

* * *

I wake up the next morning to Angel shaking my arm. "Max, get up!"

I sit up and rub the sleep out of my eyes, still only half awake. "What is it, Ange?"

She starts jumping up and down, still shaking my arm. "Alyssa said that you need to wake up early!" I stop my daily routine of stretching and such, and give her a quizzical look. She doesn't answer this, but instead she just grabs my hand and hauls me out of the room and downstairs.

"Okay, Ange, calm down!" I say whilst being pulled down the stairs. She ignores this and I just give in, regaining my composure and going along with it.

In less than a minute, we're standing in front of the kitchen table, Alyssa, Mr. And Mrs. Walker sitting at the table. I wonder where Fang and Gazzy are, but don't ask anything.

Mrs. Walker smiles when she sees me, putting down her cup of coffee. "Oh, hello, Max. Do you have a good night's sleep?"

I think back to the dream and I had, but don't tell her that it scared me a little bit. I just nod and smile back.

Alyssa finishes taking a sip of her juice and hops up and comes over to me. "Oh, my gosh, Max, can I please pick out your outfit for today?" I give her a questioning look. "All I have is the stuff I packed."

She waves that off though, saying, "Oh, never mind that, I'm sure you could fit into some of my clothes."

"But I'm—"

"Oh, I know you're older than me, but let's face it—you're super skinny. Plus, I'm maybe an inch or two shorter than you. If need be, you can just wear your own pants, too, so that's one 'problem' fixed," she explains, making air quotes around "problem". I'm about to object when I realize she's right. I sigh.

She drags my up the stairs just like Angel did to me a minute ago, said seven-year-old following closely behind us. Straight up the stairs, to the right, first door you see. If you're confused about the layout of the house, let me explain.

When you walk through the front door, there's a stairway that's almost right in front of you, and it stops halfway up to the next floor. Another stairway, this time going to the left, finishes the way up.

To your right is the dining room where a dark wood table is centered in the middle of the room, eight chairs seated around the table and a chandler hangs above it. There's a hallway leading to the kitchen from there. The door to the basement and a bathroom are in that hallway, too, parallel to each other.

In the kitchen, there's a granite island counter right in front of you with four seats. On the other half of it is a stove and some counters. On the far side of the room, there are more counters, two ovens, the sink, a toaster, microwave, and the refrigerator. A small table sits in the corner of the room on the right side with four seats around it. The kitchen is open on the left side and since it's not level with the living room, there are two steps before you get in there.

The living room is lower down than the rest of the rooms, so there are still those small steps leading up to the hallway from the front door, and some to the music room on the left (it's the same if you entered from the front door.) Two long couches sit parallel to each other with a coffee table in the middle of them. On the far side of the room, there are cabinets and a fireplace while a flat screen TV hangs above the fireplace. The music room is basically just filled with bookshelves, a piano, guitars (two are acoustic and one is bass), and boxes filled with smaller instruments.

Anyways, Lise takes me into her room, which I note is very green, blue, and silver and she makes me sit down on the edge of her bed.

She goes through her closet, looking for something for me to wear while I just sit awkwardly on her bed. Angel crawls up next to me and I let her sit in my lap and that doesn't make it _as _uncomfortable for me.

Key word: "as."

Lise finally finishes finding the right clothing and she sets it on the bed next to me. It's a black tank top with intricate designs along the top, a skirt that looks like it has the galaxy sewn onto it, and black studs. Of course, I'm just to wear my black Converse since Lise's feet are smaller than mine.

"You need to get dressed now. We have maybe an hour and I need to do your makeup," she instructs and I don't argue with her because honestly, I don't mind the outfit that much (despite the skirt), and Alyssa doesn't seem like the kind of girl to go crazy with makeup, unlike some girls I know. (Cough, cough—Nudge, Ella—cough, cough.)

Angel hops off my lap and I jump off the bed, pick up the clothes, and make my what into the bathroom down the hallway.

Once I'm done getting dressed and am back in her room, she makes me sit down in a roll-y chair at her vanity. She swivels it towards her and starts applying eyeliner. "Okay," she says, while putting on my eyeliner. "So, I feel like this is a really awkward silence, and I barely know you, but from what Fang's said and I've figured out, you're pretty cool. Wanna play twenty questions?" I agree since I don't like silence either and I don't really know her that well either.

_Finally! You're opening up to some one outside of your small group of friends! _The Voice says. If I could, I would be glaring at him.

_Hey! What about Angel, Mary, somewhat of Gazzy, and Dad?_ I ask.

_Yeah, they don't count. _

"Um…favorite color?" Lise asks, taking away the eyeliner. I open my eyes completely, glad that the eyeliner is done with, while she rummages for something.

I think for a moment before answering, "Probably…yellow." She stops what she's doing, looks at me, and then laughs and I give her a questioning look. "Why are you laughing?"

She shakes her head, but she's still smiling. "You seem like the kind of girl to like…red, or black, or purple, or _something _more…hardcore. Not yellow." She picks up something, looks at it for a moment, and then puts it back down again.

I smirk. "Well, excuse me for not following the rules of being emo."

She laughs again, picking up a container of blush and one of those brushes. "Ha, if Fang heard you say that, he wouldn't be happy." I chuckle a little at this.

"Mine is probably…green," she says nonchalantly, putting the blush down after a second and then choosing silver and light brown eye-shadow.

"Okay, my turn," I announce. "Favorite…food?"

"Italian."

"Mine too."

"Um…what do you want as a career?"

"…I can honestly say I've never thought about it."

"Really? Not even when you were little?"

_I was too busy wondering if I'd live long enough. _"Nah. What do you want to do?"

"Acting."

"That's cool. Do you take classes?"

"Used to. Now I'm just sort of…on my own, I guess. I do things for Youtube though."

"Really?"

"Yep. Mainly just skits and all that jazz. Some of the time I do scenes from books with my friends. It's really fun, actually, and we surprisingly have a pretty good-sized audience. I can usually persuade Fang to help me with it, too, but he usually just works the camera and he's always edited them. You should do it with us sometime."

"I'll take you up on that. So…you and Fang are close?"

"Meh. Kind of. I mean, we get along and stuff, but we still bicker a lot. Especially since he _keeps taking my laptop!_

"…Sorry. I'm protective of my things."

"I can see that."

"Are you and Fang close?"

"…I—I guess. I mean, we're _friends._ Why?"

"Oh…no reason. Favorite TV show?"

"…Doctor Who."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, why?"

"It's just so…nerdy. I didn't expect you to like that kind of thing."

"Honey, I read three Harry Potter books in a week. Don't act so surprised. What's _your _favorite show?"

"…Same as yours…"

I laugh. "Then why would you ridicule me about it if your is the same thing?"

"Well, sorry, I was surprised! You just have this _aura_ that you aren't that kind of person."

"That's only what the people who don't know me assume. Ask Ella. She thought I was a goth when she first met me."

We keep on like that for a while, completely forgetting our game of twenty questions and replacing it with chatter. I'm pretty sure we can get along.

* * *

"Why is everyone staring at me?" I whisper over to Lise, who's walking on my left as we make our way into the cafeteria. It's lunchtime right now, and Ella, Fang, Lise, and I are making our way to meet Nudge and Iggy where they probably already saved a seat for us.

She grins, glances at Fang, and then answers, "Because you look freaking awesome."

All of the guys are staring at me very…well, hungrily, and it scares me. Reminds me of those Erasers. And all of the girls are giving me death stares. Neither makes me feel very comfortable.

Having everyone looking at me like that, with all the attention pointed towards me, isn't something that I enjoy. I don't like how they seem to be anticipating my every move, or how they seem to be holding their breaths for me to mess up. I tense up and put all of my walls up and I can tell Ella, who's next to Fang, (who's waking on my right) can tell that I am going into defense mode. She glances at me quickly, and in that split second, she tells me not to worry and just calm down. This somehow helps me and I tell her thank you back (with a look, of course).

Fang seemed to have notice this too, but he doesn't say anything about it, which I'm sort of grateful for. Ella and Lise start talking about one thing or another so I strike up a conversation with Fang.

We make our way through the lunch line, me just grabbing everything I can that seems even remotely edible. Lise does the same, surprisingly, and I look at her, wide eyed. "Not to sound rude or anything, but how do you eat so much?" I blurt out and then realize that that's the exact same thing that Ella does to me most days.

Lise laughs, looking at my tray. "I could ask you the same thing." I smile lightly and then my brain starts whirling, wondering why she actually _does _eat so much, and yet still stay skinny. I mean, I do that, but I'm mutated! It makes sense for me, but for Lise…?

Then an idea comes to mind, as we make our way out to where Nudge is waving frantically at us. _What if she's just like me?_

But then I push it away, more than surprised the Voice hasn't commented on anything.

_That's absurd, Max, _I tell myself. _You already know what happened to all of the other experiments…_

I'm pulled back to reality by Nudge squealing, "OMG, Max, I loooove your shirt! And you should wear makeup more often, it makes you look even prettier than you already are and for some reason your eyes looks really green today, even though there's still brown and stuff, hmmm, wonder why? Oh, you know, I would _love _to have green eyes! Or gray, or really any colors besides brown—no offense to anyone but I just think that they're so common, you know? Like how brown hair is so common that it's really rare to have pure blonde hair—Max has dirty blonde hair so there's some brown in it, meaning it isn't pure blonde and—" I sort of tune her out after that, still fully aware of everyone staring at me.

"Um, Ella?" I ask, tugging on her arm and she turns to face me instead of Iggy, who she'd been chatting with a moment ago. She looks at me with big, curious brown eyes that kind of remind me of a cow. (In a good way, obviously.) "Yeah, Max?"

"Do you, um…" I uneasily glance again at Sam, a boy from my Science class, who is intently staring at me from a couple tables away, but not as creepily as all the other guys. For some reason, him staring doesn't make me afraid, just extremely embarrassed. Wait—why am I embarrassed? I don't even freaking know him! He blushes and looks at the floor after meeting my gaze for half a millisecond. I keep my eyes on the back of his head though, completely losing track of what I was talking about.

"Maaaaxx? Hey, Maxi, what are you—" she's cut off then when she follows my line of sight. I snap my head to look at her and try to fight the blush that I know is going to creep onto my cheeks.

She grins when she sees that it's a boy and squeals. "Oh, my God, Max, you've got a cru-ush!" She sings, very loudly, might I add, especially since the squeal already caught attention of some people. (Cough, cough, everyone at the table and more, cough, cough.) I shove my hand over her mouth so that she can't give another out burst. I don't need any _more _attention drawn to me right now. "Hush!" I snap at her, taking my hand away from her mouth, and sigh, glancing around once more. Good thing he isn't staring at me again.

I glance at Fang almost involuntarily and see that he's looking at me, too, his face calm but I can tell there's a hidden emotion behind the mask. I look away, not entirely sure why I do. Trying to act nonchalant and almost as if an after thought, I add, "And I don't like anyone."

Fang wouldn't look at me after that.

* * *

Later that day, Fang and I are walking out of the school to go home. Lise wouldn't be riding the bus today because she said Dylan would take her home.

Coincidence? I think not!

Anyways, Fang and I are just sort of talking about anything, completely content with each other's presence, when I just _have _to bring up Brigid_, _causing a very awkward silence.

Everything's_ awkward when it comes to you and human contact, _the Voice says, sounding annoyed. _Not true! I'm fine with—_

_Yeah, yeah, we all know you're completely fine with Ella, Mary, and_ Fang, _now get back to what's going on, you love sick birdy._

_I am _not_—_"Brigid and I aren't really…" Fang's voice brings me back to the present. He pauses for a second, probably thinking for the right words. I wait for him to continue, staring at my Converse as I keep walking. We're approaching the bus now and people don't give me much attention anymore, thank God. "Well, I haven't talked to her since the date," he finishes, and for some reason, I feel relieved that he isn't _with _her.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

More silence as we take our seats in the back of the bus. I fiddle with my hands, thinking. I try not to, but my mind keeps going back on the possibility of other mutants being here. And, _if_ Lise _is_ one, could anyone else in her family be? …Is Fang?

Said boy suddenly takes a candy bar out of his backpack and breaks it in half. He holds one half out to me in offering while he chews on the other. I take it from him. "Thanks," I say, nibbling on it.

He smiles, a real, full smile, making me stare and have to catch my breath. "You're welcome." I smile back.

We chat quietly for the rest of the bus ride, not really focusing on anything. I still can't help the nagging feeling that I should be looking into the possibility of there being other mutants, but I don't think I could just _ask _her. It's not the kind of thing you do.

Fang doesn't bring up about when I'll explain, which I am thankful for. I'm not in the mood to think about it even more.

Oh! And did I mention that I am going to spend the afternoon at Fang's house, too? No? Well, I am. Dad called sometime earlier (right before school) and said that he wouldn't be able to get home until at least 9:00. So I'd have to stay there with the Walker family. Not like I minded.

As we're walking up the driveway, the Voice says, _They'll have to find out sometime, Max. You need to start thinking about when you're going to explain the whole "mutant with wings" things and how!_

_They can wait a little longer, _I answer.

"What'd you say?" Fang asks, looking at me. I stare back. "What?"

He gives me a weird look. "Didn't you just say something?" Mental face palm. I answered the Voice allowed? Crap!

"Um…no…?" I say uncertainly, acting like I don't know. He gives me one last cautious looks but then shrugs it off, going back to our normal conversation as if nothing strange had happened in the first place.

_You really need to be more careful, Max. _The Voice scolds.

_Like I didn't already know that._

Lise is there, just like she promised, except Dylan's there, too, sitting on the couch with her. Guess what they're doing? Kissing. Would a little-kid "ewww!" be in order? Yes. Yes it would.

Fang and I share a look, and then simultaneously start "fussing" over them, saying things like, "Oh, my God, no PDA!" "I'm gonna be scarred for life now!" and "Why can't you get a room?" purely because it's fun to annoy them. Dylan and Lise pull apart and stare at us like we're crazy, both blushing furiously. Seeing their expressions, Fang and I share another look, and then burst out laughing.

Yes. You read correctly. Fang _laughs. _

Lise glares at us, still blushing. After a moment, I can tell she has to fight a smile and Dylan's already grinning. He laughs a bit, but it's clearly not as long or hard as us.

Once we've stopped laughing and are both just grinning, Lise says to me, glaring once more, "Oh, like you don't want to do that with Fang."

It's my turn to glare and I have a really hard time trying to fight the blush threatening to add onto my cheeks, and in the end it actually wins. "I do not," I grumble and she just smiles with fake innocence. Deciding that she's won, she grabs Dylan's hand, saying, "Why don't we go outside now?"

In a desperate attempt to change the subject, I say, "Um, where can I put my backpack?" Fang just answers that it doesn't matter, so I shrug and go up stairs to put it in his room.

Gazzy and Angel aren't home yet because the elementary school gets out after the high school does and they'd be home around 4:30. (It's 3:20 at the moment.) Mr. Walker would be home around 5:00, according to Fang.

While in Fang's room after just throwing my messenger back on the bed, I glance out the window to see the two lovebirds themselves, sitting facing each other out in the back yard, talking. I smiled again. (That's the—what, seventh time today? God, I'm a softie!) Despite teasing them, I think that Lise actually really likes him and he seems to sincerely like her too.

I really hope that lasts for her.

Once down the stairs, I go into the music room, and just look around. The walls are a dark red, and almost completely covered in shelves filled with books and other assortments. I pace slowly around, trailing my fingers across the piano keys, wishing so badly that I knew how to play. I had learned guitar last year but I'm not very good. And anyways, it doesn't matter, because it's not like I'll ever have a dire need to play an instrument during life or death situations. Or, at least, I _hope _not…

I hear leisure footsteps against the dark wood, and I know that it's Fang who is behind me. I'm surprised that he doesn't do that creepy thing where he doesn't make a sound. Sure enough, a moment later I hear his deep voice ask, "Do you play?"

I don't look away from the piano, still running my fingers along it. I shake my head. "No. Do you?"

I turn around in time to see him grin a little bit at me and in answer; he sits down on the bench and places his hands on the right keys. I sit on the bench next to him, curious. Since the bench is only made for one person, our legs and arms are touching, but I try to ignore the fact that my skin is tingling and my heart is doing that weird jumping-thing again. He starts playing something that seems familiar to me, but I just can't put my finger on it. It's beautiful though and I fall in love with it instantly.

Once he's done, I ask him what it was. "You ever heard of Bon Iver?" I think for a moment. Have I? I shake my head in a "no". "Well, that was _Blood Bank_ by him."

I nod. "It's pretty."

The corners of his mouth turn up slightly and he agrees with me.

After a moment of just sitting there, he suggests that we go do our homework. I agree, thinking that it won't be so bad if I'm doing it with someone else.

* * *

We're sitting cross-legged, facing each other, on the floor with our stuff spread out next to us. I can't help but think of Dylan and Lise and that we're basically doing exactly what they're doing, except we aren't…you know, together and stuff…

Then my mind goes back to thinking about the School, and suddenly I realize how badly my wings hurt and I have the sudden urge to take off the cardigan I'm wearing and stretch my wings out. I push that impudent desire to the back of my head and continue on with what we're doing.

First, we start on History. A couple minutes into working on our second sheet of homework when he breaks the silence that had just crept up on us. "Hey, has Mrs. Mercedes talked to you recently?" Fang asks.

I furrow my eyebrows. "Um, no…Why? Haven't you?"

He shakes his head. "Yeah, she's been more…" I stop, thinking of the right words to describe how she's been acting.

"Secretive?" He offers.

I nod. "And kind of closed off." I go back to working on the sheet, tucking a piece of hair that had fallen into my face behind my ear. After a moment, I feel him staring at me and look up. He has that darned mask on but there's the hidden expression I saw earlier again. It's gone a moment after I saw it though, so I'm not even sure if it was even there to begin with.**  
**

* * *

Fang's dad arrives home on time. We (Dylan, Lise, Fang, and I) are lounging in the living room, talking with the TV as background noise. Dylan turns out to not be as obnoxious as I had originally thought, and Fang seems to think so too. I can tell that Lise is thankful that Fang finally approves of him.

Angel and Gazzy had arrived home on time too. Apparently, Angel hadn't known that I'm staying again until she saw me sitting in the living room. She's been sitting in Fang's lap since and Gazzy went up in his room, probably playing video games.

"I like your dress, Angie girl," Lise tells her. Angel smiles, two holes where her front teeth are supposed to be. "Thank you," she says politely, smoothing out her cute, red dress the best she can while sitting down.

"Hello, kids!" Mr. Walker greets, setting his brief case next to the door and coming through the living room to the kitchen. There's a chorus of, "hey" in return. The only one who hadn't said anything is Fang.

I turn to him to see him staring at the TV, which had been left on the News Channel.

_"Seven-year-old Maria Cathony was taken from her home on November 23, 2004…" _is the first thing that I hear the anchorwoman say. A picture of a little girl with platinum blonde hair and blue eyes comes on the screen, sitting in a woman's lap, smiling brightly.

They say something more about the kidnapping and then there comes an interview with Maria's mother. All the while pictures and videos of the little girl flash across the screen and I feel like I had seen her before, though where, I haven't a clue.

Apparently I'm not the only one who thought she's familiar, because Fang beckons his dad to come see what's on the TV. Mr. Walker does, and Fang says, "Doesn't that look like Jenny's daughter?"

"Who's Jenny?" I ask, completely left out of the loop. Angel shifts in Fang's lap, and said boy answers me. "Our cousin."

Lise looks up from talking to Dylan, probably wondering what they're talking about. "Who looks like Jenny's daughter?"

"This girl," Mr. Walker answers, looking at the TV in astonishment. "Huh," he says. "This is…strange. Jenny's daughter was kidnapped when she was six, back in 2005."

"Well, did they ever find who kidnapped her?" I ask. Now they had the anchorwomen talking, with pictures of Maria again, but this time in the upper right hand corner.

Lise shakes her head. "No, actually, they didn't. They aren't sure is she's still alive, since there's no evidence that she was killed or not, but I know Jenny lives in Alabama now with her sister Kailie and Kailie's husband."

We drop the subject after that and just got back to our normal chatter. Lise is back to talking with Dylan, and me to Fang, while Angel would come in with her opinion every now and then.

At one point, Angel hops out of Fang's lap, runs up stairs to get something, and comes and sits in my lap instead. "Will you French braid my hair?" she asks in her angelic voice.

I smile. "Of course I will, but I have to warn you, I'm not the best at French braiding." She giggles and hands me the hairbrush and hair band she'd gotten.

I see Fang watching with an amused expression as I try (and fail) to French braid Angel's hair. It ends up all messed up and just looks gross, so I tell Angel, "Um…maybe you should get someone else to do your hair." She hops out of my lap and goes back to Fang's instead, handing the hair band and brush to him. He doesn't question it and goes to work. Once done, I find that it actually looks _good. _I raise an eyebrow at Fang in question, smirking.

"Thanks, Fang!" Angel says, hopping up once more and goes back up stairs. Fang moves a seat over so he's directly next to me and in answer to my look earlier says, "Angel always makes me do it for her because Lise fails even worse than you do at it." I glare at him shortly.

Then I notice that he's so close to me that our legs and arms are touching. I look at him and he's staring at my lips. Wait—Fang is staring at my lips! _Fang_ is staring at my lips? _Why is Fang staring at my lips? _

My heart is thumping oddly in my chest and my cheeks heat up, but he doesn't move. He brings his hand up to brush a strand of hair behind my ear and I'm sure I look like a tomato. I'm trying (and failing) to think a comprehensible thought besides, "OH MY GOD!"

We're both leaning in now, completely oblivious to the fact that Dylan and Lise are in the room and Mr. Walker is in the kitchen. Our lips are about to touch…

When Angel comes bounding down the stairs again, this time with her homework in hand. We spring as far away from each other as the couch will let us. Angel, having noticed this, giggles and gives both of us a knowing look. I blush even harder (if that's even possible). She sits between Fang and I on the couch and we don't look at each other, given the embarrassing and awkward moment before.

Was I really going to kiss _Fang? _

Yeah. I was.

Did I want to?

Definitely.

_Are you _finally_ coming to realize what I've been trying to tell you? _The Voice asks.

I nod even though he's in my head. _Yeah. _

Yes. I, Maximum Ride, _like _Nicholas "Fang" Walker. I admit it. My shocking discovery is going to make it nearly _impossible _to have a conversation with him without thinking about it.

Now there's one question left:

_Does Fang like me?_

The house phone suddenly rings, bringing me out of worrying about my teenage crisis, and Mr. Walker picks up the phone from the kitchen counter. "Hello?"

There's a muffled reply and then a, "This is he." After some more replies and smiling, he says, "That's great! When are you coming? …Oh, okay, see you then…yeah…love you too, good-bye," and he hangs up still smiling.

"Who was that?" Lise asks him, coming to stand next to him at the doorway between the living room and the kitchen. "That was your aunt Susan. She's coming to stay with us for the next two weeks!"

There's a silence in which no one says anything, and he doesn't seem to have expected this sort of reply. His smile slowly fades. "Well, aren't you happy?"

"Happy?" Fang suddenly says from beside me. "Why would we be _happy?" _

Mr. Walker has a bewildered expression on his face at what Fang has just said. Lise suddenly joins in, looking something between angry and taken back. "She's a right awful witch, Dad!"

He furrows his eyebrows, not seeming to be able to understand why Lise would say that. "What do you mean? Susan loves you guys!"

Angel shakes her head; blonde curls bouncing on her shoulders. "No, she hates us."

Mr. Walker still doesn't believe this. "Oh, you don't know that, Angel." She shakes her head again, and in a more sure tone, she tells him, "No, Daddy, she _told_ me that she hates us."

Mr. Walker just dismisses this and Fang and I go up stairs since he seems to be in a bad mood.

* * *

The next day at school, Fang isn't there. I ask Lise about it, but she just says that he's sick and would probably be back tomorrow.

The day is fairly normal and flies by pretty quickly, the Voice not saying that much. I haven't seen Iggy or Ella at all today, and when I see Ella in class, she looks pretty upset. (I don't have Iggy in any of my classes.) I try talking to her at lunch, but she just says that nothing's wrong. Iggy doesn't sit with us at lunch today, something that I thought I would never see. Nudge follows him, probably wanting to keep him company. Lise sits with Dylan and his friends, so it's just Ella and I. I haven't told her that I like Fang yet, but she'll probably find out soon, since I know her the best and she'd find out soon anyways. She carefully dances around the subject whenever I ask her what's wrong.

However, that doesn't last all day. We're in the locker room changing out of our gym clothes when she spills. She starts tearing up and I come over to comfort her. "I-Iggy and I broke up," she says and then starts crying. I gape at her for a moment before hugging her. "Oh, but why? You two were so great together!" I don't pay attention to the fact that I sound like Nudge.

Her brown eyes are red and puffy, while her cheeks are tear stained. She says through her crying, "It's just…I-I thought…I thought that he was—was cheat—cheating on me…because he…" and then she starts crying harder and I decide that that's all that I need to know right now.

The few girls that are left in the changing room come and comfort her, telling her words to calm her down, giving sympathy. After a couple of minutes, she stops crying and then seems embarrassed that all these girls saw her cry. She apologizes for the sudden break down, but we all tell her that it's fine. One girl with blonde hair and green eyes whose name is Julia, I think, tells her, "It's fine, Ella, really! Everyone needs a good cry every once and a while." A small smile is offered with this, and Ella returns it weakly.

She's completely calmed down now, but there's still traces of it. "I'm really glad that my eyes dry fast right now," she tells me and I give a small smile to her. Ella had told me one time when we were completely alone at her place that she thought she was actually in love with Iggy. At the time, I didn't doubt it, and I still don't. I'm sure that Ella started to doubt that _he _loves her when she thought he was cheating on her.

Later, on the phone, she told me the whole story. Lissa had told her that Iggy was cheating on her a couple months ago, but Ella didn't believe it. Brigid, having apparently gotten in on it with Lissa, approached Ella one day and convinced her that Iggy was dating Brigid and her at the same time. Ella still didn't believe it.

"I'm sorry, Max, I really am, but I just couldn't help it! Brigid seemed so _sure_ of herself and sometimes you believe things you shouldn't and I guess I started doubting my trust in Iggy and—"

"Ella!" I cut her off. "Take a deep breath. You're starting to sound like Nudge." I could basically feel her try to give a smile.

"Yeah, sorry about that…" she apologizes, sounding defeated.

"I think you should be telling Iggy this, not me," I advise. "Oh, I know, Max, but he won't talk to me now! What am I gonna do?"

I sigh and run a hand through my hair, trying to comb out the knots with my fingers. "I'll talk to him if you want," I offer, trying to sound enthusiastic.

"Really?" she exclaims. "If it means you'll be happy again, then yes." She squeals and I hear gratitude in her voice when she says, "Oh, thank you, Max!"

_Since when did you get to be so giving? I guess love just does that to a person, huh?  
_

_Shut up, Voice._

* * *

_**SEVEN THOUSAND, FORTY-NINE WORDS! **_**(7,049) How's THAT for ya? Yep, I made sure to make this chappie extra long for making you all wait, like, two months. :) Do you forgive me now?  
**

**Possible fax in the next chapter. I'm not sure yet, but probably. ;D REVIEW, MY MINIONS, REVIEW!_*_**

*.*.***Flitting Wishes*.*.* **_  
_


	11. Chapter 11

_A building. On fire. _

_There are people running around, screaming, the alarms are blaring and everyone is frantic. Every man for him self._

_I could have paid attention to anyone there. They'd all have been interesting. But I walked around calmly, just looking. Looking for someone. Someone specific that I hadn't found yet. _

_I stop at the scene of a boy, no older than ten, with red-brown hair and dark eyes searching through the building, pushing in the opposite direction as everyone else. He ignores it when people give him strange looks for going back in the burning place and doesn't say anything when someone yells at him to get out. _

_After that, people don't even notice me trailing behind him. No one pays any attention to any one else. No one offers help. _

_Every man for him self, all right. _

_He keeps going, tripping over his own feet and fallen walls and really anything that could be in the way. I quickly look into one of the rooms and see that it had been evacuated. All that is left is the blazing rubbish and…cages. _

_The boy curses every time he trips. There's a scream and he speeds up in the direction it had come from. "Rosaline? ROSALINE, HOLD ON, I'M COMING!" There's another scream in reply and he runs as fast as it looks like he can go. He's coughing and hacking up ash and smoke by the time he steers into the room we heard the screams coming from. A girl, who looks to be a little bit younger than him, is on her knees, on the floor. I wonder why she doesn't get up and run, since she's inhaling the smoke and ash. _

"_Rosie!" he says in relief, rushing over to her side and bending down next to her. _

_She's about to say something in reply but once she opens her mouth, she starts hacking up her lungs. He looks around for a moment and I see that her feet have chains on them, which are caught on something. _

_He quickly undoes that and helps her to her feet. She stumbles for a second and leans on him for support. "It's my leg," she replies to his questioning look and then starts coughing again._

_He nods and they hobble along as fast as they can, Rosaline leaning heavily on him. He's sweating and coughing almost just as bad as she is by the time they make it to the front of the building. _

_Finally once they are out of the building and as far away as they can get, they both collapse on the ground, passing out from exhaustion._

* * *

I wake up from my dream, sweating and…crying?

I rub my eyes with my knuckles and sit up, leaning on my elbow. I get a gut feeling right away that something isn't right.

My gut feelings are usually pretty accurate.

Everything feels hazy and distant like…well, I don't know actually. It just…does. My head hurts, but like a normal headache. Not like the pains I keep getting.

I glance at the digital clock on my bedside table. It blares at me in bright red: 3:49 AM.

Yawning, I get out of bed and go downstairs for a glass of water. Stereotypical, I know, but it usually helps me, okay?

The floorboards are cold against my bare feet and I wince every time that they squeak when I take a step. I'd rather not wake Dad and Mary up. (I'm not _that _inconsiderate.)

After getting my glass of water, I see a flash of black, gray, and white outside the kitchen window. Curious, I push back the curtains and lean in to get a better look, but whatever it was is gone by the time I do that.

Two days later, Fang is back at school (which I am very thankful for) and Lise is acting all…jittery. I don't understand why, but I don't question it either.

At lunch, we still aren't back to our normal seating, but instead of it just being Ella and me; it's Nudge, Fang, Ella and me. I suppose Ella told Nudge about what happened and Nudge wanted to come be with her. She isn't giving Iggy the cold shoulder like you think she would have, she just thinks that Ella needs her more right now than he does. There's still a tense atmosphere going on, but Nudge and I attempt to get rid of that by starting conversations.

Key word here: attempt.

No one really joins in on them, our statements followed by awkward silence. Ella isn't in to it, but a couple of times even Fang—yes, Mr. Tall, Dark, and Silent—started trying to fill up that uncomfortable air. We're all grateful for his efforts, but they're still failing, just like Nudge and I's.

I still have to figure out what to say to Iggy. We've never been really close like I am with Ella or Fang, even though we're friends, and I just feel like this isn't something I should really be involved with, you know? Like it isn't my business and they should be the ones to clean up the mess.

_Max, you got yourself into it too by offering to help, _the Voice reminds me. I roll my eyes when no one is looking.

_Yeah, I know. I just wish I hadn't. _

The day flies by fairly quickly and I have to explain to Fang what we learned during class while he was gone. I don't mind it since, you know, we're best friends, remember? But it does give me more chances to make a completely idiot of myself because of our proximity, which I am not thankful for. I could go without being so close to him that I'm sure he can hear my quickening heart beat, and can tell that it's way too fast to be normal. (That's partially because of the avian DNA, and partially because of…well, you now.) A nagging feeling in the back of my head, telling me something bad is going to happen, has started growing but I've taken to ignoring it during the day and thinking about it when I actually have the time.

So, what I'm really getting at is that I never really think about it.

It's last period and Iggy's right there, at his locker (which I have to pass on my way to my class, obviously) and I know I should probably just go over there and talk to him, that now is the chance for me to knock some freaking sense into that thick head of his. To make him freaking get back together with Ella so that they can grow up and get married and have kids and live happily ever after, and they can both stop moping and tearing our group of friends apart. But I just…I just _can't. Ella _needs to do this. _She_ needs to be the one to apologize and knock sense into that boy, not me. I know Iggy's hurting too and that he really does love her, but he might not forgive her that easily, and I don't think it would help if _I _did the matchmaking. Maybe I should just turn around and head back to class and…

_No, _the melodic voice pounds through my head. _Walk towards Iggy, and tell him the story of what really happened with Ella. Now. _I have the burning need to please that voice and I do what it says almost robotically. On the outside, I look normal, but on the inside, I can't control a thing I'm doing.

Which is exactly how I spilled everything about Ella's side of the breakup to him and he just stood there, shocked, waiting for…I don't really know. He's waiting for me to say, "Gotchya! Oh, you should've seen the look on your face!" or "Just kidding, she doesn't actually love you"? I don't know. But I do know that the bell rings once and I have to rush off to my last class before I got in trouble for being late. (Mr. Bonne is really strict.)

On the bus, it's just Fang and I again, while Lise is probably riding with Dylan like she has been doing for the past week. They're not officially a couple yet, but I'm pretty sure they will be soon, if they keep up like this.

Anyways, we're on the bus and I remembered to charge my ipod the night before, so we spend most of the time in comfortable silence, listening to the music. The only problem (for me) is that we have to share the headset (obviously) and that makes the second time today that I've been too near him for my liking. I would love being that close if not for the fact that it makes me act like a complete fool and that he doesn't like me back. But other than that? I'm all for it, why not.

We're listening to _Ice _by LIGHTS when he all of the sudden takes the ipod from my hand, not even asking, and starts scrolling through the music. He's apparently found the song that he wants to listen to, because he presses the "start" button and hands the device back to me. I give him a skeptical look, like "what did you do?" but he doesn't say anything, nor replies with a look.

I can't really recognize the song so I unlock it and go to "now playing" and see that we're listening to _Glycerine _by Bush. I haven't listened to that song in so long that I guess I forgot what it sounds like, but I remember that I used to listen to it 24/7. It's a pretty good song, honestly, and I'm not that surprised that he listens to Bush. You'd think that he listens to things that are really dark and hardcore and stuff, but really, he doesn't. He and I have a very similar taste in music, which is good.

Sooner or later, we get tired of just listening to music so we yank out the headphones and I stuff my ipod back into my school bag. "So," I start, turning in my seat so that I'm sitting cross-legged and my back is to the window. "How's you're day been?"

He shrugs, as per usual. I nod once and breathe in, letting it out as slowly as possible. "Yours?" he says suddenly and I shrug too. "Meh. Fine, I guess. I dug myself in deep and had to find a way out of that pit, the hard way." I sigh.

"Really? How?" he asks. I breathe in deeply again and speak after a moment, running my fingers through my hair.

"I kind of told Ella that I would find some way to help Iggy and her to make up and…yeah, I'm not sure what got me to do that, but I did, so…too late now…" I end lamely, not looking at him, but rather a couple inches to the right of his face.

He nods. "Oh. Well…have you done anything about it yet or are you just gonna wait it out?"

I hook a piece of hair behind my ear and look at him, my shoulders slumped. "Nah," I lied. "I don't really know what to do. I mean, I've been in one relationship, a year ago, and I didn't even like him that much. He turned out to be a butt and I broke up with him. What do people _do _in these situations?" Yes, you heard correctly. I can kick Eraser butt any day, but I don't know what to do during a break up.

I'm just your average teenage mutant-freak.

…

Ha, yeah, no, even by mutant standards, I'm a freak.

Strange, huh?

Of topic, sorry.

Our conversation ends a little bit after that and then Fang has to get off. I'm not especially glad that he has to, since now I'm let here alone with no one to talk to.

I _would _start on my homework, except for the fact that my stop is only a couple ways down and I don't want to have to put all of my stuff back.

When I get off the bus, I take my time to walk up the driveway, kicking pebbles between my feet. It's warm outside, but not hot. Beginning of October, it had cooled down a bit. I'm glad to be off the bus where it's hot and sticky, considering there are so many kids on and the air conditioner isn't working well. My shoes, just Converse, are worn out, falling apart, and covered in dirt. My jeans are ripped up at the knees and have grass stains on them, but I don't care. The same goes for my hair: messed up, tangled, and in a ponytail that is slowly coming undone. I know that Ella and Nudge wouldn't be very please with my appearance but again, why should I really care that much? I'm the girl that sits in the back of the class either reading for talking to my friends. If you stay quiet, no one notices you and no one finds anything out. That was one of my many sayings. One of the ways to not be noticed is to not be fashionable. People will care if you look good, so don't look extravagant like all those girls I see do. You don't have to look bad like I am at the moment, but wear something that's going to attract a lot of attention.

So really what I'm getting at is: don't dress like Lady Gaga.

…Or Lissa for that matter.

I hear birds twittering back and forth with each other and I kind of wish I knew what they were saying even though I know that will probably never happen. It would be kind of ironic too, since I have wings and crap, and then I can speak in chirps.

Once to my front door, I dig my keys out of my backpack and unlock the door, coming in and setting my stuff down next to the door. I toss the keys in a pile next to my backpack. The first thing I see is Mary, sitting on the couch, stroking Astara while watching _Kate Plus Eight. _

Hearing the door open and close she turns her head to look at me, and smiles. Her green eyes light up and sort of sparkle. I smile back at her. "Hey, Max, how was school?" she asks casually turning to look back at the TV while I make my way to the couch. "Good, I guess. Kind of…you know, average." I shrug as if it's no big deal, which it isn't, really.

And then suddenly there's this excruciating pain splitting from my lower back all the way to the tips of my wings. The Voice and I cry out at the same time and my knees buckle, making me fall back on the floor next to the couch.

"Max!" Mary yells frantically, jumping up from the couch and crouching next to me. The pain worsens and I squint my eyes, rocking back and forth, as if that would actually help get rid of it.

I can hear the Voice screaming in agony right on with me, except mine are more of groans rather than screaming, while his are full out screaming.

It lessens and I can think something comprehendible through my haze of dizziness and the left over tinge of pain that's still shooting up my back. _Calm down, _the Voice manages to grind out. _Relax your muscles, Max, go with the flow._

I listen to him because his urgent tone is scaring me and I know that if I don't listen, then he'll just make me do it anyways.

I open my eyes a little bit to see Mary still crouching there, looking terrified. "JEB!" She yells, running away from my side for a second to scream up the stairs at my dad to get down here saying something else that I can't tell.

The pain comes back and I'm back to full out screaming, screaming anything I can think, which is mainly, "AHH!" but sometimes I'll yell profanities, which I'm sure both Mary and Dad aren't very pleased with.

And then it's stopping again, slowly but surely, and I can think over my haze again. My senses start working again from having just shut down.

I hear Dad saying, "Max, honey, I need you to open your eyes."

I do so, just because I know that while he's using that tone, it's something very important. I can't see very well and my vision is blurry but gradually clearing up.

"Good, sweetheart, good. Are you alright?" he asks me, voice laced with concern. I nod my head even though I know that I'm actually not. I feel like crap.

"Do you know what was happening?" he questions again. I nod my head once more, remembering what the Voice had mentioned a while back.

"Growing pains," I mutter.

Mary frowns. "What?"

"Growing pains," I repeat, this time in a louder voice. "My wings are growing. Which is a problem, considering I'm having a bit of a hard time concealing them as it is." I put my head back in my hands; wanting to just go to sleep, let the darkness engulf me. Sleep is my friend. So is Darkness.

But mainly Sleep. Especially right now. Oh how great it would be, to get some rest and curl up with a blanket in my nice, warm bed, not to be disturbed for a long time, not by the School, not by normal high school life, not by anyone.

Except for the fact that the School disturbs me even when I'm in the dream world. But nonetheless…

"Why would growing pains hurt so badly?" Mary asks. Even though I've lived with them for a while, she doesn't really know a lot about genetic engineering and why I am like the way that I am.

Though this has nothing to do with it. Shot, _I _don't even know why it's doing that!

Dad starts to explain. "For her, her wings' growing is a whole lot worst than normal growing pains. It has something to do with the bone structure and the genetic engineering. I'm not completely sure actually…" he trails off, staring at the ceiling, thinking.

"Do you need anything to drink, dear?" Mary asks. I nod my head. "Yes, please, water would be nice."

Yes, I _can _be polite, believe it or not.

She gets up from her position crouching down next to me and goes into the kitchen. Dad stands up and holds a hand out to me. I take it gratefully, but I'm still sort of dizzy so I stumble a bit while walking towards the couch.

Mary comes back a moment later with a glass of water and sets it on the coffee table in front of our leather couch. "Thanks," I mutter, lifting the glass to my lips. My hands a shake a bit, but I manage not to spill it, thank goodness.

"Rest now, Max. That probably took a lot of energy out of you," Mary instructs me. I don't protest, yawning and setting down my glass of water on the table. I lay down on the couch, my head resting against one of those throw pillow thingies and my legs curled up to my chest. Dad takes a blanket and covers me up. My eyelids are getting heavy and I really need to sleep. Somewhere, in the back of my head, the Voice is reminding me that I still have homework to do, but I ignore him. Rest would really be good…

_Max! _The Voice yells frantically at me in my head. My eyebrows furrow in annoyance I try to just ignore him, but it's hard. _You can sleep, but I need to let you know that you have a deadline before your wings grow to their fullest width…_He goes on about something else, but I'm already half-asleep.

* * *

The next day at school, things are just normal. The guys are joking around with each other, the girls are gossiping or doing their makeup or something cliché like that, as per usual. Everyone is having a _swell _time.

Except for me, of course.

_Calm down, Max, _the Voice tells me. I shake my head even though I know how strange it looks to everyone else in the halls. _I can't, Voice! I'm freaking out here!_

_You still have a few more months…_he reminds me, probably at an attempt to cheer me up.

_Yeah, _I think bitterly, _a few more months. _My wings are growing at a rapid pace. During the few months that I have left before they become too big to conceal, I'll be in major pain for 2/3 of that time.

…_How _many _months, Voice? _I ask him.

After a pause, he answers, _two. _

Two months.

TWO MONTHS.

_WHAT? _I all but scream.

I have two months before I have to leave everyone. And right when I'd started making _friends, _too!

Well…crap.

Everyone in the hall snaps his or her head over to look at me. So apparently, I said that aloud too…Awkward.

I shrink back, blushing furiously, and hurry off with my head down to my next class. Which just so happens to be History class with Mrs. Mercedes. And with Fang.

Oh, God, _Fang. _

What am I going to do? I mean, I guess I could tell them why it is that I have to drop out of school in the middle of sophomore year. They'd understand _then, _wouldn't they?

But what if they don't? Suppose that they don't believe me and think that I'm insane. Suppose they freak out and call the police or something ridiculous. What if they don't want to be friends with a freak like me?

I'm having this internal battle with myself all through role call. Mrs. Mercedes has to call my name three times before I answer with a quiet, "Here."

Fang bursts in the door a second before she's about to call his name. "Sorry that I'm late, Mrs. Mercedes. Locker jam." He sets a slip of paper on her desk and she smiles at him. "It's okay, Nick, just go and take a seat." He nods gratefully at her and slides into the chair next to mine. I don't look at him.

"Hey," he whispers over to me, pulling out the stuff we need. I don't look at him but nod in greeting.

I'm well aware that I haven't known that I like him for very long, but my heart still does the complete_, insanely_ over-rated thing: it breaks. I have to leave them. The Walkers. Nudge. Iggy. Ella. And I can't be with Fang even if he actually _does _like me back. (Very unlikely, by the way.)

Well crap.

Again.

_They'll understand, _the Voice reassures me.

_How do you know that? _I feel kind of bad about ignoring Mrs. Mercedes while she's teaching, but I'm too out of it today to care all that much.

_That's just the kind of people they are, _he answers. I don't reply back. They might be that way now, but what about after they find out what I am? Sometimes people change. But they always have a reason to. Theirs might be my secret.

And anyways, I don't want to drag them into something so dangerous as my old life. If the School _is _after me, and they find out that I'm close with them? They'll attack _them_ to get to _me_.

From beside me, Fang nudges my shoulder and I look at him. He points at the board and I reluctantly start on the assignment that's due at the end of the class.

Forty-five minutes later and then bell rings, dismissing us to our next class. Fang and I are hurrying out along with the crowd to try and get to our next class on time for once, when Mrs. Mercedes calls me back. "I need to speak with you," she says.

I nod and give Fang a look, telling him to go on. He obliges, but not before shooting me a look that says, "Tell me later."

"Max," Mrs. Mercedes starts. "I noticed that you've been far more distant lately. Not participating in class, your work is getting sloppier and you never talk anymore. Not even to Fang." She sets her glasses down on the table and stares me straight in the eyes; looking the most serious I've ever seen her look. "Is everything okay?"

I nod quickly, reassuring her that everything is just peachy. "Are you sure?" she asks again.

I say, "I'm positive, Mrs. M."

_Liar. _

Lunch is fairly average. Still with that awkward atmosphere that no one appreciates, but it's died down slightly, Nudge back to her chattering, chipper self. I glance at Iggy for a moment and he is talking with his friends, laughing along with them about something someone said. He is faking it. I can tell because that's the exact same thing _I _used to have to do.

I guess I kind of have to start using that again, huh?

I frown down at my tray full of school food, thinking. Fang must've noticed this, because he nudges my foot. I look up at him, one eyebrow raised in question. "You okay?" he asks, concern in his voice (something that caught me off guard.)

I nod my head, feeling like our roles are switched around. "I'm fine, Fang. I'm just tired is all."

And that's not a complete lie. I'm still worn out from yesterday.

Fang doesn't look convinced, but he drops the subject anyway and we munch down on our food, not really talking but every now and then when we'd exchange short comments.

The next couple of days are okay. No intense pain, though my wings hurt like Hades squished against my back. Lise and Fang notice my sudden change in mood, while I know Ella's still upset and Iggy's still not talking to her. Nudge is the same old chatter box, but even _she's _been affected by everyone else's mood. Dylan sits with us just about every other day so that Lise can be with him and us too, and I'm pretty sure everyone thought was very nice of him, and she makes everything a little bit better.

A week passes by, then two, then three, and then a month, and I make sure that I spend just about every minute of it with my friends. If I have to leave, then I might as well spend my remaining time with them.

I feel like I'm going to, like, _die_ instead of just having to leave, but it's basically the same thing, since I can't give them an explanation and I'll have to move. The School, it seems, _is _after me. I saw another Eraser on the way to the grocery store the other day and I figured that was enough proof. Dad believed me this time, something I'm thankful for. They've probably be waiting for me to grow out my wings so they can take me back to the School and do tests on me and crap. I don't have any idea as to how they'd know when my wings have fully grown, but they'll find a way.

Don't you just love my life?

Iggy and Ella made up. He finally talked to her and told her that I had told him about everything and that he was sorry, and Ella apologized for not trusting him. Everyone's mood changes along with theirs, just like last time, and we're all back in a little family again.

Lise's birthday is coming up. This weekend actually. Iggy, Ella, Fang, Angel, Gazzy, and I are all going out shopping for her present, while Nudge is keeping her preoccupied. We plan on having a surprise birthday party for her, since Fang told us that she's never had one before. It was Nudge's idea to, actually, and the reason she's staying behind is because she's making Lise's present and therefore doesn't need to go shopping with us, even if I know she really wants to.

The mall is especially crowded on Friday afternoons, and we see a couple of people we know, but no one that we actually have a problem with, (thank God.) I was anticipating having to see Lissa or Brigid or something, but thank my lucky stars that we didn't run into any one _that _obnoxious.

First stop: Forever 21.

It was Ella's idea, actually. Don't tell anyone I said this…but I kind of like that store. _Some _of the stuff at least. The other stuff is too…girly for my taste. Though I'm sure that Lise is going to love a lot of the stuff here.

I know, I know, Max likes Forever 21. Quick! Get out your cameras!

Anyways, it doesn't take us long to find something that she would love. The only problem was finding something in her size. Lise is really small, actually, and a lot of stuff there isn't in her size, but we found stuff that she would like and that would fit her. I don't know what I would have done if Ella had made us go to a billion other stores.

After going to about three other stores, we were running out of money to use for her, all of us being broke high school students. (Basically.) We agreed to go to the food court and have lunch.

"So…" Iggy starts while we're waiting in line at McDonalds. "Any one seen the new episode of Doctor Who?"

"OH YES!" Ella screams suddenly, slapping him a high-five. "IT WAS FREAKING AWESOME!"

"Ella!" I fake gasp, putting a hand to my heart and bending down next to Angel and Gazzy. I cover Angel's ears and give Ella a look of fake disgust. "Watch your language around the children!"

She sticks her tongue out at me and continues to discuss Doctor Who with Iggy. I roll my eyes at them and stand back up. Fang half-smiles/half-smirks at me, and my cheeks heat up like they have been for the past…like, three months.

Angel tugs on my shirt to get my attention a moment later and when I look at her, she gestures for me to bend down closer. I do and she gives me a look of pure confusion and asks in a whisper, "What are they talking about?

I laugh lightly at her and shrug. "I don't know, Angie."

"I think they're just being weird," the Gasman announces from beside Angel. I smile and ruffle his scruffy blonde hair, so much like Iggy's, while he grins back at me. "I think I agree with you, Gazzy."

After we've all gotten our food, we take our seats in a back corner of the cafeteria.  
"Ha, just like school," Iggy says randomly and I nod in agreement.

* * *

**I really wish I had been able to add more into this. But, now that I have that slightly filler-ish chapter out of the way, WE CAN NOW GET ON TO WHAT I HAVE PLANNED SINCE THE VERY BEGINNING. WHOO. **

**Yeah. I also wish I had made the chapter longer, since it's only 7 pages on Word (roughly 5,000 words)...**

**Review please!**

***.*.*Flitting Wishes*.*.***


	12. AN: Hey, HELP ME

**Hey! **

**So, yeah, I apologize for not updating…. again. Honest to God, I tried so hard to update before. But what happened was that I wrote half the chapter, hated it, deleted it, and had to start from scratch, with no freaking idea what to do. I finally got inspiration for it, but then I got stuck again. And I have a question for you guys that's rather important. Here it is:**

_**Would you rather have me update, by, like, tomorrow or so, but it be kind of short (like, 1,500-2,000 words short) or would you rather wait maybe another week for a longer chapter (probably around my norm, which is 4,000-6,000)?**_

**So yeah! Thanks for taking the time to read this! I know it's probably kind of disappointing since I haven't update for a month and a half (I AM SOOOO SORRY, I SWEAR) but, if it makes you feel any better, I have indeed been making progress! Very, incredibly slow progress, but progress nonetheless!**

**Thanks again and I'm sorry again!**

***.*.*Flitting Wishes*.*.***


	13. Chapter 13

**Oh, I'm terrible. I swore that I would update a couple of days later, a week ago. Blaaaah, I'm bad at this. **

**But in my defense, I've been pretty busy. I was supposed to update Friday, but I had a friend over and we were working on other fanfiction (I have like ten going on other accounts right now) and then I was babysitting for most of the night afterward. Today is my birthday and yesterday was the party, so we spent all day getting ready.**

**But one good thing came out of the wait: I got another idea that, in my opinion, will be AWESOME. **

**Btw, there's a little bit of cursing in this chapter from Lissa and Brigid. It's not bad, but it's more than the norm.  
**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride, Doctor Who, or the songs mentioned. **

***.*.*Flitting Wishes*.*.***

* * *

Lise's surprise party is the following Friday after school, set up starting at 4:30, the actual party starting at 6:30. It's going to be a sleep over. This time, Angel, Ella and her mother have taken her out to go to the Flying Pig Café, which I think I mentioned earlier. It's the best coffee shop in town and Ms. Mercedes used to go there all of the time. I used to also, and that's kind of why we're so close now.

But anyways, they're taking her to the Flying Pig Café, while Fang, Gazzy, Nudge, Iggy, Mr. Walker, and I set everything up. Iggy's making her cake, since he's the best 15-year-old cook in the entire state, I assure you, and therefore better than everyone else that we know. It's going to have four layers and it's chocolate on the inside and the out. Mr. Walker is hanging up the streamer while Gazzy cuts off the pieces as he asks for them, handing it up to his father. Nudge is cleaning up the house and finishing wrapping her gift to Lise, which for some reason she hadn't had time to do earlier (which is totally out of character for Nudge, if you wanted to know. She's always been insane on getting things done before the last minute). Fang had to go to the store to get the rest of the stuff for Lise's cake, since they are out of milk and sugar and nearly out of icing.

So I'm just helping Nudge clean up, since I'm not exactly sure what else there is for me to do. I offered to go with Fang to the store, since I had a bad feeling about it for some reason. Paranoia, I guess, but my bad feelings are usually right. But he said it was fine, that he'd be back in a minute, and I need to help Nudge clean before Angel, Ella, Mrs. Walker, and Lise get back. So I let it be and he left on his way, promising he would be back in a moment.

I had put my ipod on my iHome, which was plugged into the wall in the kitchen, so it's blasting _Not in Love _by "Crystal Castle" from its speakers. Apparently, Iggy likes that song, considering he's singing along to it and doing some weird little dance moves every now and then. Nudge laughs at him but joins in anyways while wiping down the kitchen table.

I chortle quietly, looking at them amused. "You two are siblings alright."

"It's funny because Nudge is adopted," Iggy notes, almost to himself, and I laugh again.

Fang gets back shortly after, which I'm thankful for. I'm not sure why I was so paranoid about it, but that seems to be happening more and more often. That bad feeling in the pit of my stomach has been slowly growing. Even though I've been ignoring it, I'm still aware of its presence, and every time my mind decides that it wants to think too hard about it for too long, I push that to the far back corners of my head, where I rarely ever go anymore. Out of sight, out of mind.

Except for the fact that it's in my head, and that's the one place that I can't really escape.

"Hey," Gazzy says, waving his hand in front of my face. "Anyone home?" He then tries snapping his finger in front of my face. Except for the fact that he apparently can only snap with his left hand, while that hand is occupied, so he has to switch.

"Uh, yeah? What is it, Gazzy?" I ask. He gives me a weird look. "Ella just called. They're going to be home in about two minutes, so we need to hide."

"Oh."

I hide behind the wall that separates the dining room and the stairway with Fang. It's kind of uncomfortable, crouching down so low since that isn't really the ideal spot for two 15-year-olds, but there isn't really anywhere else we can hide. It hurts me a lot more than it should, considering my wings have been strapped against my back for a couple hours more than they usually would.

I swear I heard Fang muttering something about—correct me if I'm crazy—wings. But when I wiped my head around and asked, "What?" surprisingly quickly, he replies just as fast, "Nothing!" I probably should push a little more so he'll repeat to me what he had actually said—I want to know if I had heard correctly or if it's just my mind making me want to believe he had said that—but I don't.

Someone, not sure who, had turned off all the lights, and it was already dark outside, so I can't see anything. I hear shuffling behind me.

"Where are you?" I whisper to Fang.

"Right here."

"Where?"

"Here."

"Oh. Hi."

"Hi."

"Why are we hiding if they haven't even arrived yet?"

"We have to have the lights off or she'll figure it out."

"You sure about that?"

"Yes."

"Well then, Mr. Tall, Dark, and Silent."

"…"

"…"

"I'm going to take that as a compliment."

"Have fun with that."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"What did you get Lise?"

"Not telling you."

"Please?"

"No. Now be quiet."

"Why?"

"I just heard them drive up."

So I shut up, as to not ruin all the work we put into this darned surprised party. According to Fang and his parents, she'd never had a surprise party thrown for her before. I'd really not want to be the one responsible for giving it away by talking.

A moment later, I hear Lise and Angel chattering as they slam the car doors and approach the front door. The knob jingles for a second while Lise jams her key into the lock. She has enough time to wonder out loud, "Why are all of the lights off?" before we jump out from out hiding spot and scream "SURPRISE!" so loud that she jumps back and screams too.

We all come out from where we were hiding and she starts laughing. And not just little chuckles or giggles, but full out bent-over-holding-your-stomach-because-your-laughing-so-hard-your-side-hurts-laughing. And her laugh is so cute and contagious that everyone else starts laughing. We talk through the laughs a little and Iggy says something witty (as per usual), which makes us laugh harder. Everyone except for her parents and Fang are laughing hysterically. Iggy is leaning against the stairs, his head thrown back, holding his side, Nudge is literally on the floor and I'm bent over. Angel and Gazzy are laughing too, but not nearly as hard. Between gasps of breath, I ask, "Why—*gasp*—are we—*giggle*—laughing—*giggle*—so hard?" Which brings on another round of laughter and Nudge manages to answer, "I have no idea!" before going back to rolling on the floor.

Once all of our laugh-attacks have calmed down, we go in the kitchen to serve cake. After asking Mrs. Walker if it was alright to turn on my ipod (see! I can be polite!), I let the song _Second Go _by "LIGHTS" drift out and around the kitchen and living room.

"CANDLE TIME!" Iggy exclaims, taking a lighter from one of the pantries. He wields it for a second like it's a light saber before Ella swiftly takes it from him. "Hey!" he complains and she smiles sweetly at him. "Sorry, hon." Seeing his expressions, she pecks his check. "I love you, but I don't trust you with this thing," she tells him and then proceeds to light the candles.

Nudge turns off one of the kitchen lights and Mrs. Walker takes out her camera. Fang gets out the plates and utensils, setting them down on the table. Lise sits at the head of the table, while everyone else is standing up. We start singing Happy Birthday to Lise while her mother is recording. Once done, we clap, and Lise closes her eyes and thinks for a second before opening them again and blowing out the candles. We clap again while Mrs. Walker brings out a knife and says, "Time to cut the cake!" in a singsong voice.

But I'm having trouble paying attention to them. Actually, I'm having trouble paying attention to anything besides the throbbing pain that's just appeared in the back of my mind, which is slowly growing. The Voice has been quiet all day, but now he tells me, _Max, it's fine, nothing major. Just try to look as normal as you can and ignore it. _And because the Voice is usually right about these things (and all things in general), I listen to him and try to put on a mask like Fang always manages to do.

However, that same brick wall that taught me that trick also knows how to see through it. And because of that little snitch in my plan, he can tell that something is wrong. I close my eyes and breath deeply, trying to ignore it, but it's growing. And it hurts. A lot.

"Are you okay?" he asks softly from beside me. Fang gently puts his hand on my back, and that sends shocks up my spine, making me squirm. "Uh, yeah, fine," I mutter and then realize something.

I curse in my head. _Ooh, this isn't good. What if he felt my wings? _I think.

_Look at him, dummy. _

My brain is completely fried and I can't think anything logical at the moment, and I'm guessing that's why I didn't think about that earlier. I do as the Voice told me. And guess what? He's still as unemotional as ever.

I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing.

So I zone back on what's actually going on and see that they are serving the cake now.

Ella says, "Oh, sweet baby Jesus, that looks delicious," taking her plate and looking at it as if it's the best thing since sliced bead.

Probably is, knowing Iggy.

I avoid eye contact with Fang while taking the paper plate from Mrs. Walker and telling her thank you. Everyone is getting seated at the dining table. Gazzy and Angel are fighting over who gets to sit by Lise when we hear the doorbell. Fang pushes his chair back and mumbles, "I'll get." But I'm really the only one who heard him so no one knows he ever said anything.

I can't see who it is, since Fang is taller than them (daaang, that boy is tall, even by my standards. And I'm 5'9!), and I can't hear what they're saying over the chatter, so it's pretty much a total mystery to me. But Fang moves out of the way so that they can step through the door way and I recognize who it is the moment Lise jumps up and yells, "Dylan! What are you doing here?"

She runs up to him and hugs him around the waist. He hugs her back and lifts her up, spinning her around. Once they've stopped spinning, he says, "How could I miss my girl's birthday party?" She beams at him and he beams back.

"Eeeww! Stop being all mushy and junk!" Gazzy yells. Angel slaps his arm and he yelps. "I think it's cute," she defends and my heart kind of melts a little bit.

Just a little.

I see Fang roll his eyes from behind them and I give him a weird look. Since when has he had a problem with them being together? I don't know, but I plan to find out. Like, now.

"Hey," I say, walking up to him and then pulling him off to the side, away from everyone else. "Since when have you had a problem with them being together?" I ask, confused. He glares at the back of Dylan's head. "I'll tell you when we're somewhere private," he answers, not taking his eyes off of Dylan. I tug on his arm and start heading towards the stairs. He turns around and quirks up one eyebrow up in question. I grin. He's been doing that since we became friends and he hadn't been doing that when I first met him. I guess we rub off on each other. "Well, you said you would tell me when we were in a private place. So…come on."

Once we're in his room and I'm sitting on his bed, him pacing, door locked, he starts mumbling something that sounds an awfully lot like some not-nice words that I guess are directed at Dylan. I stand up. "Well, don't calm down," I say suddenly.

He stops pacing. "What?"

"Don't calm down."

"…Why?"

I say, totally out of character for me (and yes, that is indeed the point), "You're cute when you're angry."

That gets him to stop thinking about it, if only for a moment. He stops in his tracks and looks at me for a second while I just shrug, and he sits down in his computer chair. He mumbles, "you're cute all the time," and my cheeks turn pink. I assume I wasn't meant to hear that, but, you know…super-human-awesome-avian-hearing.

**(A/N: A lot of people are probably going to be all like "THAT IS TOTS NOT SOMETHING MAX WOULD DO BLAAAAHBLAAHBLAH YOU TERRIBLE WRITER FLAME FLAME FLAME" but the point is: that's OOC for her. It surprised him, therefore he wasn't freaking out there for a second. FLARDIFLARFLAR, YOU GET IT NOW?)**

After a moment, I urge, "So…tell me why do you all of the sudden hate Dylan's guts?"

He growls. Yes, he _growls. _I never thought Fang was capable of actually growling, _like a dog, _but apparently, as he's just proven this, he can. Very well, actually. It reminds me of the Erasers though and I don't like it. "Because," he grunts, not elaborating.

"Because…?" I prompt.

"Because I saw him cheating on Alyssa while I was at the store earlier," he says, clenching and unclenching his fists. My eyes widen, my eyebrow goes up, and my jaw drops. My shocked and utterly dumbfound expression. "Well, are you sure it was him?"

He nods. "Unfortunately, yes. I'm sure."

There's a moment of silence. "…Well…crap," I mutter. "Why didn't you tell Lise this earlier?"

"Do you really think she'd want to know?" I have to think about this for a moment.

"Yeah," I answer after a long silence. "She would want to know. But let's not tell her about it now. We shouldn't ruin her first ever surprise party. That's one more 'surprise' than she needs." He nods, agreeing with me, and runs a hand through his black hair tiredly. I lie flat on my back against his bed, staring up at the ceiling fan that's turned off. A plan starts to form in my head and I grin slyly.

"Hey," I say, sitting up again and propping myself up on my elbow. "You know what we should do?" I ask.

He must have seen the look in my eyes, because he asks warily, "What?"

"Get revenge."

* * *

By the time I'm done explaining my master plan to Fang and we arrive down stairs again, everyone is nearly done eating their cake. Iggy gives us a strange look but I just shrug in return and, as normal, Fang doesn't say anything.

Of course. What else did you expect from that boy?

"Alright!" Lise says, clapping her hands. "Time to open present!" she continues in a singsong voice. Dylan is standing next to her, one hand resting on her shoulder. It's kind of hard to believe that he's cheating on sweet Lise. _Looks can be deceiving, Max. Your quite good at mind games too, aren't you? _The Voice muses teasingly.

_Oh, whatever. My deception is a different kind. It's to protect them…not to hurt them. _I act as if I'm paying attention as Lise bring out the present that Nudge had gotten for her. The wrapping paper is pink and has a blue bow on top.

_You're still keeping things from them. Pretty important things, too. I'd say that it's more important than cheating on someone. You're putting their lives in danger and they don't even know it…_he tells me. I know that he's only doing that to persuade me to, you know, tell them, but it's affecting me the exact same way he wants it to: it's angering me.

I am not putting their lives in danger!

You are actually, and you know you are. Seems kind of selfish to keep it from them, don't you think?

After that, I try to tune him out, but that's proven to be very, very hard. Especially considering he's in my freaking head. For the rest of the party, no matter how hard I try to keep from thinking about it, my thoughts keep going back to what he said. About it being selfish that I wasn't telling them, I mean. It isn't selfish!

…Is it?

I really wish I could talk to someone about this. I mean, I suppose I could talk to Mary and Dad but…I don't know. It just wouldn't feel _right_ somehow. What I really want to do is talk to Fang or Ella or _someone _outside of my family_. _I want their advice. But I can't ask them, because otherwise, I'll have to tell them all of it and that would just…that wouldn't be good. They would be put in even more danger if they knew. What if the School took them and questioned them about me? They'd have a harder time pretending to not understand if they actually do know what the white coats are talking about.

"Max? Maaaax? Helllooo?" Ella says, waving her hand in front of my face and bringing my attention back to what's happening. "Huh?" is my very clever and well thought out reply. (Cough, SARCASM, cough) "What? Oh, oh yeah. Uh, sorry, I'm just out of it right now." She gave me one last curious look before going back to chatting with everyone.

There's a pain in the back of my head again and I rub my temples tiredly. I really do not need another head-explosion-migraine-thing. I never want them; I never need them—especially not during Lise's birthday party. That would completely kill the mood, wouldn't it? So I try my best to ignore it and pretend like it isn't even there. That...usually works…

* * *

I press my left hand against my cheek, my elbow propped up on the computer desk. I press the start button and Lise's familiar voice drifts through the speakers.

In the video, she is sitting in her living room, Fang next to her, looking uncomfortable. He's holding an acoustic guitar, the same one I had seen in the music room not too long ago.

"_Hey guys!" _she greets, giving a small wave to the camera and smiling. _"I'm Alyssa, and this is my brother, Nick." _She points to him in turn and he just nods and gives a small, awkward wave. I can tell that he doesn't like to be in front of the camera, unlike Lise.

She pushes some hair behind her ear, still smiling, and says, "_We are going to be doing an acoustic cover of Carousel by Paper Route." _

After a pause for Fang to adjust the guitar, he starts strumming. Lise opens her mouth and starts singing.

_You and I_

_Are gonna get it right_

_Don't let me go_

_It takes two_

To make a leader but

_One has to follow_

_Help me_

_Help me understand_

_What we've become_

_We fell apart_

_And then proceeded to_

_Both play the victim_

_On and on and on we go_

_Just like a carousel that's lost control_

_We don't know why,_

_We don't know why we go,_

_We go, we go in circles_

_I want you_

_More than anything_

_Just as you're leaving_

_For every wound_

_There's an apology_

_That's lost it's meaning_

_You and I_

_I think we're better off_

_Without each other_

_The last ride_

_The unavoidable_

_Keeps getting farther_

_On and on and on we go_

_Just like a carousel that's lost control_

_We don't know why,_

_We don't know why we go,_

_We go, we go in circles_

_On and on and on_

_We spin to find an end where we begin_

_We don't know why,_

_We don't know why, we go,_

_We go, we go in circles_

_On and on and on we go_

_Just like a carousel that's lost control_

_We don't know why,_

_We don't know why, we go,_

_We go, we go in circles._

Fang strums the last chord and then there's an awkward pause before Lise says, "_Alright, I hope you enjoyed it and don't forget to comment, subscribe, and rate! See ya' later!" _She makes a face at the camera and gets up to turn it off, Fang half-smiling in the background.

I scroll through her other videos and click on a random one. This is one is titled, "Permafrost~ Cover."

Lise's face appears on screen, Fang next to her once more. This time they're in his room, as I recognize from all the black in the background.

"_Hey!" _she says, perky as ever, waving frantically, looking like an idiot in the process. I chuckle slightly.

"_So this cover my dear bro Fangles and I are going to do, is by _Laurena_! Go check her out! She's super frigging awesome but doesn't have _nearly_ as many views on here as she should."_ Fang glares at her momentarily for calling him "Fangles" but other than that, doesn't do anything.

There's a jump cut so she's telling Fang something in a low voice. He mutters something back, and she shrieks, _"DON'T SAY THAT IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA!" _

It jump cuts again so that she's making weird faces, purposefully making herself look stupid. She does a bunch of weird hand motions while Fang just gives her a look like, "you…are insane."

He stares blankly at the camera for a moment before saying in complete monotone, _"My sister is a complete idiot."_ She gapes at him and whacks him upside the head while he snickers. I smile to myself.

I've just finished watch a couple more of her videos when Mary yells up the stairs to me. "MAX?" she screams.

I jump from my computer desk and poke my head out the door. "YEAH?"

"I'M GOING OUT TO EAT, YOU WANT TO COME? YOUR DAD SAID HE WOULD BE LATE TONIGHT."

"Um…YEAH, SURE, HOLD ON A SEC," I reply, running around my room and stuffing my boots on frantically. I grab my jacket on the way down the stairs, since it's November now, and chilly outside.

Mary smiles at me when she sees me coming down and I smile back. It's a couple of days after Lise's birthday party and everything is normal, minus the fact that Fang and I are still planning revenge against Dylan. Lise obviously doesn't know yet. We don't plan to tell her until maybe right before we get vengeance against him. Mary doesn't know about my conflicting emotions about telling them. I'm too…afraid to tell her. Is that the right word? Afraid? Maybe it's something else. Either way, her and Dad don't know yet. Maybe I should…they could give me good advice, right? I make a mental note to talk to them later.

I hop into the car while Mary chatters on about something that happened. Mary always acts more like a teenager than a stepmother. But that's okay because it makes it easier to talk to her about things. She isn't like some moms you see on TV that try too hard to "connect" to her daughter but in the process just end up looking awful. She isn't trying to. She just is.

"So," she asks while we pull out of the driveway, "how's school and things been going?"

I nod and answer with an average, "It's fine."

"Any guys you've been fancying?" she asks slyly, glancing at me expectantly. I gape at her while she laughs. "Mary, you know that I don't like anyone…" I trail off.

She shakes her head at me, making some sort of _tsk-tsk-tsk _clicking sound with her tongue. "I don't know. What about that guy that you always hang out with? Fang, I'm pretty sure it was?"  
I blush involuntarily and try to turn away so she can't see, but it's too late. She goes, "Ooh!" just like Nudge would do and says in a singsong voice, "Maxi has a cruuuush!"

I hiss, "Shut up!" at her while she laughs again. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry, you want me to act my age? Okay, fine," she says and then clears her throat dramatically. "Maximum Ride…" she can't finish though and sits there for a moment, thinking of something. After a second, she gives up. "Oh, I can't translate that to adult words. So, give me the dets."

I roll my eyes affectionately at her and reply, "Number One: Never say 'dets' again. And Number Two: it's a long story…"

Mary nods, suddenly serious and tells me that she has time. So I spill what's been going on with me for the last couple of months to her. How I feel about Fang, the whole deal with Dylan, the whole thing about LEAVING IN A FREAKING MONTH, and how I'm not sure if I should tell them. The full while, she's giving me advice on what to do and I'm insanely grateful to her.

"Okay," she starts, "about you liking Fang: I think you should go for it. He seems to like you…a lot. As in, more than a friend, just like you do. And about telling them: I think you should wait until when you think is right. Hon, I'm not completely sure about things yet either, but I don't think you should keep so much from them. Maybe tell them half the story for now—give them enough right now so they aren't curious, but when you're ready you can let them know everything."

I nod and thank her while we walk into the restaurant. And whom else would we see there but Lissa, Brigid, and their posse?

That's how terrible my luck is.

Plus, to make matters even worse, Mary and I are seated kind-of-close-ish to where they're sitting. _Greeeeat_.

When I see them, I do my best to not look their way and to hide as well as I possibly could. It works for about five minutes before I start to hear them whispering about me. I'm sure they think that I can't hear them (though I doubt that they'd care if I heard anyways) but in reality, I can hear every single word they say.

"Oh, my God, you guys, look! It's that b++ch Max from school," Lissa says and I roll my eyes. Populars these days, huh?

"Yeah, she totally took Fang from me!" My jaw tightens when I hear Brigid mention my best friend/crush's name. "I swear she did it on purpose. They hang out all of the time—it's so annoying. She, like, controls him all of the time. She'll ask him to, like, do something—_anything_—for her and then he'll freaking do it like she's put a spell on him." I could basically feel her flip her stupid, perfect, bleach blonde hair over her shoulder and then roll those eyeliner-rimmed eyes that aggravate the freaking HECK out of me. "You'd think someone had taught her how to _share_."

The Voice has to calm me down so that I don't march right over there and punch her in her stupid makeup-caked face. Mary gives me a strange look but I press my index finger to my lips in the universal quiet sign. She nods. I keep listening.

"I mean, I don't even _want_ Fang anymore. I used to go for him, but he turned me down. Like, what the h+ll? No guy has ever said no to me. How could they? I'm freaking irresistible. I'm, like, every guy's dream," Lissa says.

Some one else who's voice I can't identify off the top of my head reassures her, "But I mean, besides! He can't be _that_ great if he chose a whore like her over you."

I couldn't believe it. I started laughing.

They turned to look at me and I looked right back. They're expressions were ones that said something along the lines of, "this biatch is insane!" But I ignored that.

Lissa sighs dramatically. "What's so funny, Max?"

I smile innocently at her. "Nothing. Nothing at all. Besides the fact that you guys think that _I'm_ the whore?" I laugh again. They look stunned that I'd heard them. I smirk.

"Number one: yeah, I can hear every word that you guys have said since I walked into this restaurant. Number two: have you girls even looked yourself in the mirror lately? Go put on something more than lingerie for once."

They don't say anything to me or _about_ me after that and the rest of dinner is fine. Once at home, I lie back on my bed and just stare at the ceiling for what seems to be hours. All I do is think.

I'll be leaving in a month. A freaking _MONTH!_ And…what am I supposed to do about Fang? Mary's talk didn't really help that much. It just made me anxious and full of hope that I know I shouldn't have. It's a lot easier to be cynical in these types of situations because if I don't get my hopes up, then I have a shorter time to fall.

I groan while the Voice pesters me about something or another that I don't bother to actually listen to.

_Shut up, Voice, I'm not in the mood! _I think grumpily.

_Okay, okay, fine,_ the Voice says, surprising me. He's never agreed on this kind of thing with me before. Not a single time in the four years that I've had him has he ever agreed to shut up._ I can understand how you're feeling. Not just because I can tap in your emotions or anything, but I know this must be taking a huge toll on you. I'll stop talking now._

_...Thanks I guess.  
_

After that, I fall asleep.

* * *

The next day, I'm invited to Fang's house…again. I know, I go over there a lot. Sue me, why don't you?

So that happens. It's completely normal, except for that fact that when I walk into their living room, instead of seeing Lise on the couch or Angel or Gazzy, there's a woman who looks to be about 19, sipping out of a coffee mug. She has straight across bangs and dark hair resembling Fang and Lise's, but other than that she looks absolutely nothing like them. Her eyes are a very bright blue and glued to a book that's sitting in her lap.

"Um…who's that?" I ask Fang quietly, so as not to be rude. But before he can answer, the woman's head shoots up, she closes the book in her lap, puts to the side, and she inquires in a thick British accent, "Surely Nick has told you about me coming, hasn't he?"

I shake my head and she gets up off of the couch and walks towards us. "I find that somewhat offensive. But no matter—I'm Mel, of course! I'm their cousin who has just come to visit from London for a week or two. Not a particularly long period of time, but after that I need to go back home with my family. I just wanted to drop by for a visit. By the way, Mel is short for Melody—I've had too many people ask why I call myself Mel, but I suppose it fits me better than my real name, doesn't it? But anyways, you are?" she says all in one breath. It's not the excited sort of chatter like Nudge, but it's still fast.

"Um, I'm Max. Short for Maximum," I introduce myself politely and she shakes my hand politely.

"It's nice to meet you Max. I've heard a lot about you already from…well, really everyone in this household, I guess. If I'm right you're also friends with Iggy, Nudge, and Ella, aren't you?"

I nod, not saying anything.

"Oh, I've heard a lot about them too. They seem like very nice people. I suppose that's a good thing," she finishes while walking towards the kitchen. She seems to already know the house by heart.

I look at Fang and say, "Don't you think she seems like—"

"A girl version of the Doctor?" he finishes. I nod. "Yeah, a lot of people think that too."

Mel pops her head out from the kitchen and says impatiently, "Well, are you going to have lunch or not?"

* * *

"So…are you two, like, together or something?" Mel asks me after lunch, while we're in the Walkers' kitchen Fang went upstairs to do something he wouldn't tell me about, Lise is taking a nap, the kids are at their friends' houses, and their parents are at work.

"Or something," I reply, setting down my cup full of hot tea. I quickly learned that Mel makes the best tea in the entire universe. I swear to God, she does.

"Care to elaborate?" She leans against the kitchen table and takes a sip from her mug. She blows at it since it's still steaming before bringing it to her lips.

"There's not much to explain, honestly," I say, nonchalantly shrugging my shoulders. Mel motions for me to continue anyways. "The only reason I haven't told my friends is because they'd tease me mercilessly. It's just you typical, incredibly cliché high school love story—I like him, and he doesn't know it and doesn't like me back either." I make sure not to use his name because he could overhear us and how terrible would _that_ turn out to for me?

And my paranoia saves me yet again, because from right behind me, Fang says, "Who doesn't like you back?"

I jump and turn around to face him. "Um, no one," I answer, shrugging again.

He gives me a look. "Well, obviously it's someone."

I flick my wrist and turn around on my heel, disregarding it. "Oh, pish posh. Why do you care so much anyways?" He follows me while I set down my nearly empty cup and hoist myself onto the kitchen counter.

"I don't."

"Well, obviously you do," I mimic him.

"I'm just curious is all."

"Why?"

"Can't a friend be protective?"

"No. Why are you talking so much today?"

He shrugs, smirks, and doesn't say anything after that.

I sigh. "I never said I wanted you to stop," I mutter under my breath He keeps smirking anyway.

Mel claps her hands and interrupts, "Alright, that's enough flirting for right now." I glare at her. She points her finger at me and says, "You. We'll talk later."

Fang and I follow her into the living room. I stop and ask Fang, "What did you get from upstairs?"

He grins and my heart pounds. _God, he can probably hear it right now!_ I think.

"It's a surprise," he answers. I give him a curious look, but other than that, I don't pester him about it.  
Mel looks at us and raises one eyebrow. "Okay, so imagine this: you're parents and the kids aren't home and your babysitter is an English 18-year-old who makes lovely tea, has a car, and money to spend," Mel says. She spreads her arms out and finished, "Right, Max, what do you do?"

I look at her like she's crazy and reply uncertainly, "I guess you can go somewhere fun."

She groans and slumps forward. "Oh, come on, you have to be more specific than _that_."

Fang rolls his eyes. "Knowing you, we'll be forced to go shopping."

Mel smiles and there's a devious look in her eyes. "Perfect! That's where we'll go. To the mall!" She spins around quickly, grabs her purse and coat, and heads to the door.

We don't move.

Once she realizes this, she turns around and looks at us impatiently. She seems to do that a lot.

"Well…come along then."

* * *

**I found out in the process of writing this chapter that describing those random laughing fits that I know we all have sometimes, is a rather...strange experience. Also: the chapter is exactly 6,000 words! (12 pages)**

**There was originally going to be some major fax in this chapter, but I cut it out because it's going to be AFTER they go shopping and I haven't found out exactly what's going to happen while at the mall yet. But I decided to give you guys a present and update today. **

**So in the next chapter, things that will take place include: getting revenge against Dylan, going to the mall with Mel, Fang and Max KISSING (fan-girl squeal), possibly some major confessions, etc etc.  
**

**Exactly like your normal soap opera, ain't it?**

**Review pleeeeeeaaaaaasssee!  
**

***.*.*Flitting Wishes*.*.*  
**


	14. Chapter 14

**I'm finally updating on time now! Woo! The first time since...like, March.**

**Yeah. There's a lot that goes on in this chapter, even though it's kind of short.**

**(Okay, so not _that _much...But more IMPORTATNT things than usual. XD)**

**It's funny, I can spit out quite a lot of filler, but then when it finally comes to the climax (or near the climax. 'Le climax comes maybe in the next chapter.) I can only get out about 6,000+ words. :/ **

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Offspring, Metric, Three Days Grace, or anything else that was mentioned. I also don't own Maximum Ride OBVIOUSLY.**

***.*.*Flitting Wishes*.*.***

* * *

We leave a note for Lise on her bedside table so she doesn't wake up from her nap and freak out because no one is home. "I'd hate to scare the girl," Mel says as we're leaving. She closes the door behind her and locks it. "I know that she wouldn't take well to waking up and finding that everyone is gone."

We get in her car, me calling shotgun so that Fang has to sit in the back seat, (I smile cheekily while he gives me his some-what-fake glare) Mel chattering away as I assume she does often.

Once her talking dies down though, silence reigns over all of us, making me fidget comfortlessly in my seat, plating my braid over and over to keep my hands preoccupied. Surprisingly, my wings aren't aching against my back and I'm rather thankful for that, as I'm sure you can imagine. The last thing that I need is to be even _more_ uncomfortable than I already am at the moment.

In an attempt to get rid of that dreaded silence, I plug my iPhone into the stereo system, blasting "Get Out Alive" by _Three Days Grace_ from the speakers. I tap the rhythm on my knee, nodding my head slightly. I swear that I can hear Fang humming along to it in the back, but what do I know anymore?

"_If you want to get out alive/Hold on, run for your life/If you want to get out alive/Run for your life…"_ I sing quietly, staring out the window at the passing cars, my arms crossed. Mel glances at me and smiles slightly, a strange look in her eyes. I get the feeling that she knows a lot more then she usually lets on.

But then again, it feels like _every _one has been doing that lately, so it's not that much of a surprise.

It's not long before we arrive at the mall. It's only about a twenty minute drive there anyways.

Fang doesn't say anything except for when he mumbles a sarcastic, "Oh joy, my favorite activity," but I ignore him while we shuffle out of the car. "Oh, stop being such a _boy_," Mel tells him while she locks the car and stuffs her phone in her pocket.

"Now, where do we want to go first?" She claps her hands together and turns around to look at us. Fang and I glance at each other simultaneously, and I raise an eyebrow at him in a silent question. The look he gives me back seems to say: _I don't really care. You pick. _But I've always been bad at deciding things—I'm sure you've noticed with how much I've put off telling them my secret—so I just shrug to Mel in reply.

She sighs and makes a clicking sound with her tongue, something like _tsk-tsk-tsk_. "What am I going to do with you two?" She grins, a Cheshire cat grin, an amused twinkle in her blue eye, and gives us a very mischievous look. I'm pretty sure that anyone would be able to tell that she's planning something in that mildly insane head of hers.

Two hours later, we have already found Angel's, Mary's, Nudge's, and Gazzy's Christmas presents. Mel is forcing me to go try on a couple of outfits from Forever 21, while Fang manages to slip out to go to Games Stop, probably to look for something for Iggy.

We spend maybe thirty minutes looking for something for me to try on that I would like and not feel exposed in. Surprisingly, we find some. She manages to grab a couple of things that I hadn't agreed to originally and persuade me into just trying them on, but reassuring me that I don't have to buy them if I don't want to.

(Plus, you know, we don't have an endless supply of money so…)

"God, you're like an older version of Lise," I complain. She pauses. "I'm not sure if that was intended to be a compliment, but I'm going to take it as one anyway."

After a little while, she hands me six of the nine things that I/we picked out—four shirts, two pairs of jeans—and shoves me into a changing room.

While I'm slipping on a pair of (surprisingly comfortable) gray skinny jeans, I ask through the changing room door, "I thought people normally shop for Christmas presents on Black Friday, not two weeks before that?"

I imagine her shaking her head at me, black hair whipping around her head, as if I were naïve for not knowing the answer. "That's when I shop for the expensive presents. I think it's better to get the easy ones done while we're here," she replies.

I sigh. "You could get them for half off in a week," I mutter under my breath, looking at myself skeptically through the mirror. "At least it saves you some money."

Along with the jeans, I have on a V-neck, translucent, dark green shirt that has a lacey pattern on it. (I have a white tank top underneath that obviously.) It isn't itchy like you think it would be, so that's a good thing. It seems a little too girly for my taste, but I don't look _that_ horrid…Better than usual at least.

I hook my blonde-ish-brown hair around my ear and comb through the tangles that I hadn't gotten out earlier. I make a face at myself in the mirror just because I can. I tilt my head to the side, trying to decide my opinion on my attire.

"Are you done yet?" she asks impatiently and I hear her tapping her foot. I roll my eyes good naturedly, turning to the side in the mirror and smoothing out my shirt.

"Yep." I pull open the door and step outside for her to see. My bare feet are cold against the wood floor, but I ignore that, wiggling my toes.

"Whoa-'kay!" I exclaim, shocked to see Fang standing there once I look up from my feet. His arms are crossed and he looks a little…surprised at what I'm wearing. (Or at least as surprised as Fang can be.) I guess that makes two of us.

Mel grins. "When…did you get here?" I question him slowly, giving her a look as she continues to look rather proud of herself. He shrugs indifferently while my cheeks heat up. _Dang hormones_…I think angrily. _Can't you freaking leave me alone for once?_

_You should know by now that you'd never be that lucky, Max,_ the Voice says, almost mockingly.

_Shut up Voice. Not the time_.

I do pigeon feet nervously, chewing on my bottom lip. I smile awkwardly while Mel gasps at me, finally taking her attention away from her handiwork and examining me. "That looks fantastic on you! Turn around so I can see it from the back."

I sigh peevishly, but do as she asks, turning around, hands on my hips. I smile with fake enthusiasm, fluttering my eyes like a ditz. Once I stop, I roll my eyes and raise my left eyebrow crossly at her. In monotone, I ask: "Are you happy now?"

She smiles, eyes lighting up in only the way that hers could. "Very. What do you think of it, Fang?" she says innocently, turning towards said boy, making me cringe a little.

Oh, goodness, please help me.

He shrugs again, putting his hands in his jean pockets casually. He casts his eyes away from me, looking at the ceiling with interest that had not been there a second ago, only glancing at me once. He hesitates but answers after a moment. "It looks…great on you."

"I'm taking it off," I say hurriedly, face as red as a tomato as I spin on my heel, still ignoring the cold, and return into the changing room. It's enough that I have to shop for clothes for myself, but then she brings Fang in? What? No. Not happening.

"I'll bring something else in for you," Mel calls through the door. I take the shirt and the jeans off, putting them on their hanger and setting them to the side while I slip something different on. I can hear her heels click while she walks down the hall.

Fang and I don't say anything through the door, and there's no sound besides a couple of other people there, and my shuffling while I put my old clothes on. It's really actually really cold in the store and I'd rather not freeze waiting for Mel.

After a moment, there's more clicking against the floor, and then I see Mel's tiny pale hand slip over to door, holding something blue-ish-green and then a pair of black straight-leg jeans. I switch it out for the green shirt and skinny jeans that I had just changed out of. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Then I see what the blue-ish-green thing is.

"…Oh, no-no-no-_no_. I will _not_—I repeat, WILL NOT—wear this!" I tell her stubbornly, holding it above the door for her to grab. I don't feel the tug on my hand so I pull it over again, annoyed. If you're wondering what it is, it's a dress—one of my least favorite things ever. It's right up there with Erasers, the School, and sluts.

"Oh, at least just try it on! You don't have to buy it and you don't have to show it to us. Just…please?"

Grumbling, I oblige, despite how much I hate wearing those things with a freaking passion. "The things I do for you," I call out. She laughs a little, ringing around the dressing rooms.

The dress is not revealing or sleazy in any way, but that doesn't stop me from feeling incredibly vulnerable in it. It has an empire waist (a term that I picked up from Ella) with an open back. The straps tie around the back of my neck and the dress goes down to my knees. I pull my frustratingly long hair out from beneath the straps, curving a piece of blonde that is hanging in my face behind my ear like I always do. "Remind me to get a haircut soon," I say to no one in particular.

I only have to look at myself in the mirror for a second before I decide my judgment on it.

"Nope, don't like it." I'm about to undo the ties when Mel asks if she can see it.

"You said that I don't have to show you!" I protest, not unlocking the door.

"You don't have to come out. Let me come in and see it."

I continue to mutter things under my breath, but unlock the hatch on the door anyway. Slowly, she slips into the amazingly spacious room, closing the stall door behind her. "Oh, that looks…" she pauses, not sure of the right word to use.

"Repulsive? Terrible? Disgusting?" I offer her, but she shakes her head like she always seems to do. "No, I was going more along the lines of remarkable," she finishes in that British accent of hers.

"That's basically the opposite of what I was thinking."

"I sort of picked that up a moment ago."

"Well…you saw, now leave please—I'm gonna change into something else." She nods but continues to study me, tapping her chin with one manicured finger. "Can you turn around for me?"

"That again?" I twirl anyways, if only because it's fun to spin in flow-y dresses.

…Hey, I'm still a girl.

She smiles. "Thank you. I think it looks really good, but you don't have to get it—that's fine." She then slips out the door again. "Tell me if you want me to get anything else for you to try on, okay?" I nod in reply before I realize that she can't see me. "Uh, sure, thanks."

I try on a couple of other things before we're finished and decide to finally leave the store. We ended up buying two shirts and a pair of jeans, despite how much I protest. I really didn't want her to spend money on me. The shirts that she gets for me are the green one from earlier and a blue and white striped crop-top. The jeans are just black skinnies.

"Okay, so…where to next?" I inquire, swinging the Forever 21 bag that I'm holding in my right hand. Fang is walking to my left and Mel is walking next to him.

Fang doesn't say anything. He hasn't said anything since the incident at the store. "Max," Mel says, suddenly serious, "I need to talk to you so…Fang, go…do something. We'll meet you in the cafeteria in five minutes." She shoos him away while he shrugs and runs off to go to…where ever it is Fang goes. I don't know.

"Okay…What are we talking about?" I act like I don't already know. She gives me a look, hands on her hips, though she doesn't seem angry with me. "You know what."

I nod and sigh in defeat. "Yeah, yeah…"

Silence while we walk towards the cafeteria.

"What was that?" I ask suddenly.

"What was _what_?" she doesn't look at me, too busy staring at a cart selling delicious looking pastries. "Oh, those look amazing," she mutters, stopping there.

"At the store, when you were making me try things on. What was that?" I continue after the woman running it asks her if she wants to buy one. She nods and turns to me, pulling her purple leather wallet out. "Do you want one?"

I shake my head. "Uh, no thank you, and back to the conversation please?"

She nods once, not really paying attention it seems. She's still looking at the cart, her eye on a cupcake covered three inches high with chocolate icing. "Ah, okay, yes, I admit it. I was trying to do some matchmaking." She takes said cupcake from the lady, saying thank you quickly and continuing to walk towards the cafeteria. I follow her. "But only because I can tell that he likes you back and just hasn't realized it yet. I was hoping you would appreciate it."

She takes a bite out of it, chocolate fluff falling down her chin. She cups her hand under her mouth and wipes it away with a napkin. "Oh, good God, that tastes delightful."

"Well, thanks for trying to help, but I don't need you to do that," I tell her, giving a strange look while she moans at how good I guess it tastes.

She holds up a finger at me, signaling for me to hold on while she swallows. After a moment, she replies. "Okay, fine. I'll stop trying to set you two up. But remember what I said about him liking you as more than a friend."

"I'll, um…keep that in mind."

* * *

The following Monday is when Fang and I start to set Stage 1 of our plan for revenge, in action.

Mr. Loftis, our science teacher, has a pet tarantula that he keeps in his room. Students seem to love that thing even though it freaks me out a little bit, and I know some other kids who would agree with me. The tarantula's name is Benny (wait, what?) and Mr. Loftis had him for a couple of months now, so everyone has become used to his presence.

Fang and I have History the same period that Dylan has science, but Iggy happens to be in the same class as him. This, originally, was annoying, but is proven to be quite helpful in this specific situation.

Fang and I are just going through History class as usual, listening to Mrs. Mercedes bubbly voice go on about the Greek Gods and Goddesses, when all the sudden: her chatter is cut off by Dylan's scream coming from down the hall.

We turn to look at each other, Fang and I do, sharing an amused smirk as we know exactly what it is. We can already imagine him running around the room, Benny sitting on his shoulder, wiggling around, trying to get off. When no one's looking (they're too distracted by what's going on) we share a high five, him allowing the corners of his lips to come up in a grin. Mrs. Mercedes pops her head out of the door while the class babbles on about what they think it is. She says, "Oh my…that's…not good," but doesn't bring her head back in. The noise level goes up.

Then there's the smell of smoke that's surprisingly familiar, an awful stench that makes everyone start to hack their lungs up, and the shrill sound of the fire alarm. That one…_isn't_ part of the plan.

_This is Iggy you're talking about. You should know that he would mess something up if only for fun,_ the Voice says jokingly.

The class files out of the room and into the courtyard, though not in a single line like the teachers keep barking at us to do. Honestly, we aren't going to do that when there's possibly a fire going on in the school, they should know that by now.

"Iggy, what are you doing this time?" I hear Fang growl under his breath as we wait impatiently in the grass in front of where they load the buses, though he doesn't seem nearly as angry like he did when he told me about Dylan. But again: how does he _growl?_ It's flipping scary.

The principal comes rushing through the doors, looking frantic, tugging a smug-looking Iggy in tow. "Young man," I hear him manage to seethe out between clinched teeth, "what were you doing, playing with bombs in the school?" He does look rather pissed, face as red as blood, and you can basically see the steam coming out of his ears

"They were _stink bombs_, sir," Iggy corrects, still looking proud of himself. "And it was an accident."

"_You_," the principal says, pointing at Iggy and curling his finger, saying _come here_, "come to my office. _Now_."

* * *

Iggy doesn't end up getting in too much trouble—only detention every Friday for two weeks, him passing it off as nothing compared to how much other trouble he's gotten into before—and everything returns to normal. Nudge is kind of angry with Iggy for setting off yet another stink bomb during school, but she can't stay mad at him for long because this is Iggy and she knows it's just him being…well, Iggy.

I want to tell Mary but I'm not sure if she'll be angry with me or not, so I keep it a secret for now. Despite how chill she is about most things that ordinary parents usually wouldn't, she's still an adult; still my step-mother. Obviously, Dad is going to be P.O'd at me, so I don't tell him either.

* * *

The weekend after that, I go to his house again (Gosh, I go there a lot) and we just sort of do whatever we feel like the whole time. A majority of the time is spent playing Mario Kart on their Wii, which ends up being loads of fun, shouting at each other a lot. As you can probably imagine, I'm quite competitive, and this is my first time playing Mario Kart, so I end up getting pretty frustrated with it very early into the game. Sooner or later, Angel comes down and joins us, which neither Fang nor I mind very much at all. His parents are home, but Gazzy is at his friend's house while Lise is out doing things with her friends too. Mel is still there obviously, but she's doing whatever it is that Mel disappears to go do.

But we get bored with this and just sort of sit around and talk for a while, Angel sitting in my lap the whole time. Obviously, I end up doing most of the talking, since he doesn't like to use up his word limit for the day, but he does contribute to the conversation enough so that it doesn't wend up being one-sided. It's really just me ranting about stuff that I don't normally get to rant about, Angel switching from Fang's lap to mine.

At some point, I convince Fang to play something on the guitar for me. He does, but insists that I have to sing for them at some point. The first song he plays is "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid," by _the Offspring_. I know that song, but I refuse to sing since I kind of suck, so Angel and I beg for Fang to instead. By the power of Bambi eyes, he gives in. Of course, he sings the clean version though, since Angel is sitting right there.

"_So, dance, dance, dance _

_Man, he never had a chance_

_And no one even knew_

_It was really only you_

_And now you steal away _

_Take him out today_

_Nice work you did_

_You're gonna far, kid_

_With a thousand lies and a good disguise_

_Hit 'em right between the eyes_

_Hit 'em right between the eyes_

_When you walk away_

_Nothing more to say_

_See the lightning in your eyes_

_See 'em running for their lives!"_

Once he's done, I'm pretty sure that I've managed to slip out of my side of our deal when he suddenly gives me a very mischievous look. "What?" I ask suspiciously, narrowing my eyes at him. He just continues to grin. "You're turn."

I'm confused for a moment before I realize what he's talking about. I guess my realization is visible because Angel's face morphs from happy to even happier. "No. No-no-no-_no_. And I repeat: NO. I will _not_ sing," I say stubbornly, looking away and crossing my arms over my chest, refusing to look at Angel because I know that she's going to give me to Bambi eyes like she did to Fang.

_Don't look at the eyes, don't look at the eyes, don't look at the eyes, don't look—_

Crap.

I sighed in defeat, uncrossing my arms and slouching forward. "Fine. If only for the child though," I grumble, referring to Angel.

"What do you want me to play?" Fang asks, picking up his black electric guitar and positioning it.

"You know 'Monster' by _Paramore_?" I ask grudgingly.

He shakes his head.

I try again, "'You Found Me' by _the Fray_?"

Another shake.  
"'Gimme Sympathy' by _Metric_?"

Finally, a nod.

"Cool," I sigh. "'Kay, go."

"_I can feel it in my bones_

_Gimme sympathy_

_After all of this is gone_

_Who'd you rather be?_

_The Beatles or the Rolling Stones?_

_Oh, seriously, _

_You're gonna make mistakes, you're young_

_Come on, baby, play me a song_

_Like, 'Here Comes the Sun'_

_Come one, baby, play me a song_

_Like, 'Here Comes the Sun'!"_

When it ends, I smile slightly and cough a couple of times. "Yeah, I'm bad," I mutter.

"I thought you were good," Angel says in that adorable way that only she can. I smile again. "Awww, thanks, Angie girl." She hugs me slightly while Fang gets up to put his guitar back in the music room.

At some point, Angel leaves to go upstairs again. We turn the TV on for background noise while we/I continue to talk.

"Yeah, I don't…" I start to say but I get distracted by something on the news, which is what it had been when we turned it on originally. The news reporter on the screen is a woman white blonde hair and green eyes, looking serious, holding a stack of papers in her hands in front of her. "_Rosalina Terran was abducted from her home at the age of three years old, directly after the death of her mother, Delayna Remark…" _A picture of a little girl with platinum blonde hair in pigtails, and sparkling blue eyes sitting in a woman's lap flashes across the screen. They're both smiling, but the woman's smile isn't very genuine, I can tell. There's a hidden emotion behind it, as if she were trying to smile through hidden tears.

(Which sounds incredibly cliché, but it's the truth.)

That's not even the strangest part. The strangest part is that the girl looks _exactly like the girl that keeps appearing in my dreams._

My breath hitches in my throat at the realization and I stare at the screen as if it were hypnotizing me. Fang has to call my name plenty of times before I respond at all. "I'm sorry, what?" I say, blinking a couple of times. He gives me a slightly worried look but other than that says nothing about it. I grab the remote from the coffee table and turn the TV off hurriedly, not wanting to think about the little girl named Rosalina or the boy from my dream who looks far too familiar to be coincidental, or the that fact that they were, indeed, at the school and had escaped.

Fang says something else in an attempt to ease the silence that my weirdness has managed to bring out.

It takes a while, but sooner or later, we forget about the girl on the TV and my fidgetiness and Fang makes some stupid joke that, for some reason, I think is really funny, causing yet another one of those laughing fits that I know we all go into at the most random of times.

We're both laughing and laughing away, and for once, Fang is actually _laughing_. Not just _chuckling_ or whatever, but full-blown _laughing_. He's smiling too, showing perfect teeth, and I can't help but think about how nice his smile is even though this really isn't the time.

By the time we've calmed down enough to where our sides are no longer hurting, we're so close that our noses are nearly touching. We lock eyes and neither of us looks away, almost like we're having a contest to see who'll give in first. But his eyes are the most stunning that I've seen in a long time, so I don't give in.

Both of our grins fade slowly once we realize our proximity, but neither of us moves away, either too scared or not really caring. Our legs are touching and my face is burning. I probably look like a deer caught in headlights, brown eyes wide, mouth forming a perfect 'o'.

"Um…I, uh…um…" I start to say, but don't finish because we're leaning in and all I can think is, "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!" and then at some point, "Fang is staring at my lips. Fang is staring at my lips! _Why is Fang staring at my lips_?" But then that thought is quickly replaced by the "ohmygod" one because he suddenly closes the small space between us and _oh, my God, I'm kissing FANG! _

It's weird. Not weird in a bad way, heck no! But weird in an I-can't-believe-this-is-actually-happening kind of way. It's the kind of feeling you get when you finally achieve something you've tried so hard, for so long, to accomplish and then you succeed and you're like, "I can't believe that I did it after all this time!"

But that isn't even the strangest part. The strangest part is that _Fang_ kissed _me_. Not the other way around. _FANG_ KISSED _ME_. Meaning that he either likes me back, or he's just being impulsive.

I really, really hope for the first one.

But no matter, because I don't care much at all at the moment. I sure as heck will when we pull away, but for right now, I don't have a care in the world. All I care about is how awesome it feels to have his lips on mine and how much I completely and utterly _love_ it.

Shoot, I might even be in love with him.

I'm afraid that when we pull away, he won't like me anymore. As a girlfriend and as a friend. I'm afraid that things will go back to the way they were before, with me having to always pretend like I _don't_ fancy him like there's no tomorrow while he continues on, oblivious to my feelings. I'm also afraid that if we _do_ get together, I'll mess something up and we'll break up, and we won't be able to be friends again. (I tend to screw the best things up.) I'm afraid that he'll realize what's going on, come to his senses, and reject me. I'm just…scared out of my mind. And that's saying something, since I can take on seven Erasers at the same time and have no worries. It's funny, because I can do that, but then when I end up kissing my best friend, I'm ready to go hide in my room.

But then that stuff never happens. Because when we pull away, I say stupidly, kind of out of it, "Oh wow," and he doesn't seem affected. He smirks at (what I assume is) my wonderstruck expression.

I don't have to worry about all of my fears of him not liking me back, because then he agrees simply, "Wow is right," leans down, and starts kissing me again like I've wanted him to for some time now. I'm sure that if I'd been standing, my knees would have buckled.

This time we're…bolder, I'll say. The first one had been timid and unsure and slightly worried on both of our parts. This one is most certainly _not_.

As expected, I kiss him back once again, closing my eyes immediately, as does he, I assume. His hands snake around my waist and stay there, while on a whim, I throw my arms around his neck and run my fingers through his hair like I've wanted to for a rather long while. The kiss deepens and I can feel him grin against my lips after a moment.

So you can understand how we fail to notice someone walk in the room, right? The person clears their throat awkwardly and we jump to opposite sides of the couch.

"Yep," says Mel, leaning against the wall. She crosses her ankles, giving us a knowing look, "totally _not_ together."

* * *

**(This is originally where I was going to end the chapter, but I'm going to be nice and continue)**

* * *

The rest of the day after that is…awkward, to say the least. After Mel…ahem…_interrupts _us, we don't say anything. I guess she understands that her presence is making me a little more fidgety than I am already, because she goes up stairs to see what Angel is up to.

The moment that I start to say something, Fang does too, so we talk over each other.

"I think I should probably—"

"I was just going to—"

Then we realize that we are and both stop, looking down again. I smile slightly, trying to ease the tension, drawing circles on the couch's armrest with my index finger.

More silence.

...

Even _more_ silence.

_God, this is getting annoying,_ the Voice says impatiently. I mentally fuss at him.

"Um…I think I should…probably go home… You know, I have, uh…stuff I need to do," I say, brain still a puddle of mush. I get up to leave, grabbing my jacket and bag, when Fang offers to walk me home. I don't decline so he tells Mel where he's going and we leave the house. Even though we've stepped outside, the silence and uncomfortable atmosphere still follows along with us, and try as I might, I can't seem to get rid of it.

We've walked for about five minutes, my staring at my Converse-clad feet, before Fang starts talking. "Max," he says, stopping in his tracks, looking at something ahead of us. He looks alert, and I try to see what he's staring at, though I fail to.

"Yes?" I prompt, generally curious as to why he's suddenly worried.

He blinks twice, shrugs, and looks ahead again, suddenly unsure. "Um...nothing. Forget that I ever said anything." I give him a worried look, but don't push further. Maybe I should, but I don't, too scared that I'll do something stupid and mess things up.

* * *

_Ari Bacheldor wasn't completely sure about what exactly he had done. _

_They had promised that if he got this little girl, he would get Rosalina back and they'd leave him alone. For once, they'd be free, together…as a family. Even if they lived on the streets without any money and no home, it was far better than being locked up in a cage, away from the sun for weeks at a time, not being given a meal for as long as five days. Even if they'd be completely broke and have to dumpster dive for food every night, at least they'd were free. At least you didn't have to worry about whether or not they'd make you grow an extra head._

_He would never wish for anyone to be taken to the place he'd spent the majority of his life in. He would never willingly drag someone there, ever…_

_...Unless it was for an exchange._

_He couldn't leave Rosalina. He…he _couldn't_! She was the sister he wished he had, his only family, his anchor, his mother at times, and his best friend. And they _took_ her. They took her away from him for quite a long time. And he just _had_ to get her back. Even if it was the last thing that he ever got to do, he would make sure she was away from that terrible place._

_He ignored the terrible feeling that settled in his stomach when he brought the little six-year-old girl back to the building. He ignored how his stomach churned like he was going to throw up. He ignored the little voice in the back of his head, telling him, "You monster! You're no better than the rest. They made you look like a beast, now you have to_ act_ like one too?" And he especially ignored the feeling that Rosalina wasn't going to be very happy with him when she found out what he had to do to save her._

_"I brought her for you," Ari barked to the woman—Ms. McAllen—his jaw set, staring at the cracked tile floor, stained with the crimson blood of old experiments, though the blood had turned brown. He could hear the screams of the experiments as the were tested on and then left there to die. The voice in his head—some would call it a conscience—kept telling him over and over that what he'd done was wrong, no matter how badly he wanted—_needed_ Rosalina out. Some other Erasers had already taken the little girl to be put in her cage, which also doubled as her new home. He tried to forget how pleading and sad the girl's eyes were. She couldn't have been more than eight. Her eyes were a crystal blue, shimmering with unshed tears, silently begging him to get her out, for him to help her. He transferred that to Rosalina instead, and said to Ms. McAllen without any emotion in his voice: "I did what you asked. Now let Rosalina go."_

_Ms. McAllen rolled her eyes and stared at him with such cruelty, that he wanted to shield back behind something to keep from having her murky green eyes staring so full of hatred at him. "Oh, fine, you can get the girl back." She flipped her long brown hair over her shoulder with one manicured hand, free of any scars of scratches. Of course! She was at the top; she had no reason to fear any of the experiments. She had no reason to get scratched up. "Marcus!" she snapped, looking at an Eraser who stood behind Ari, making sure that Ari wouldn't try anything. "Go retrieve Experiment 542009, would you? She's in Room 34, second hallway down. Feel free to do what you want with her as long as she gets back to her soon." Marcus nodded mutely, doing as he was told._

_Ari's yellow—once a light brown—eyes grew wider. "If you _dare_ touch her—"_

_"Oh, shut up, you big oaf. It wouldn't matter if anything else happened to her. She's already screwed up enough. We merely tried to…fix her." With this, Ms. McAllen smirked to herself, going back to her computer and typing something in._

_"_Fix_ her?" Ari growled, fists clenching, baring his now canine teeth. "_What_ did you _do_?"_

_Ms. McAllen dismissed this with a flick of her wrist, not threatened in the least. "Just some test. Some of them didn't go as well as hoped, though. She's a weak one, she is."_

_Ari wanted to scream at her, "She's tougher than all of you combined and could probably snap you in half if she tried!" but he held his tongue because he knew that they had power over him, even if he _could_ knock Ms. McAllen out with one kick to her chest. How easily her fragile, human bones would break with the weigh that would only daze him slightly. But despite that...they could still do terrible things to them. That had been proven to be true a long, long time ago._

_A moment later, Marcus came back, shoving someone along with him, her long tangled mass of blonde hair covering her face, her shirt ripped in multiple places, her hands cuffed behind her back._

_"Rosie!" Ari said, rushing towards her. The Eraser un-cuffed her hands and pushed her forward. She stumbled, falling to her already-bruised knees, using her bloodied hands to break her fall some. He knelt down beside her, setting his hand gently on her shoulder, his eyes returning to their warm brown that he knew she liked. She slowly looked up, her face covered in scars and cuts, her lip split, and he saw the black eye that was slowly forming. His blood boiled, realizing that that had to be relatively new. "Oh, Rosie..." he muttered, staring at the state that she was in. She looked blankly back at him, blinking a couple of times as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing. He half expected her to hug him and cry from relief and half expected her to ask how he'd even gotten back in. _

_But she never did. _

_Instead, she said something that made his entire, already-un-stable world collapse for months on end:_

_"W-who…who are _you_?"_

* * *

The rest of the week, everything returns to normal, except for the little bit of awkward silence that always seems to like to linger about. The Voice has stopped fussing my liking Fang, but has taken to nagging me more and more now to tell them about the whole "mutant freak with wings."

I've taken to ignoring him.

Fang and I aren't planning to start Stage 2 of Revenge Against Dylan for another week, so he doesn't start getting suspicious. He's been acting a little jump since then and Fang and I are just basking in how good that feels to know that he got some of what he deserved. Lise hasn't said anything about it but she still doesn't know that Dylan's cheating on her.

But Stage 2 never comes.

Thursday afternoon, at exactly 10:37 AM, the code over the intercom comes on, telling us that there is an intruder in the building. They have a code so that the intruder doesn't know that we're hiding and that we're aware that they're here. I won't tell you the code, because what fun would that be?

Of course, there's a lot of chatter going on before the teacher make us shut up and we hide.

The gut feeling gets stronger. I swallow thickly, my pulse racing.

_Max_, the Voice says, _you're in huge trouble. _

_What? Why?_ I ask frantically, trying to keep my calm façade on so that no one sees what I'm actually thinking.

_Get out. Now. They won't hurt anyone except for you. Once they realize that you aren't there, they'll leave and search somewhere else. Run._

But I don't get a chance to move at all, because just then, the door to our classroom busts open, the glass on the window shattering and sending shards everywhere. Everyone flinches back and I dare not breath. There are shouts in the hallway and then I hear a gun shot. Everyone pushes further back, trying to get away from the door and the noise and the guns.

"Maximum Ride," the Eraser says, grinning sadistically, his teeth bared and very much threatening. He has Ella pressed up against his chest, his hairy arm around her throat, pointing a gun hard against her temple. She whimpers, a strangled noise coming from deep in her throat. I realize something quickly: she can't breath.

"Come with us and she might get to live."

* * *

******_EDIT:_  
**

**IGNORE THE THING EARLIER ABOUT THEM BEING TOGETHER NOW. I DECIDED THAT I DIDN'T LIKE IT AND CUT IT OUT SO...**

**THAT NEVER HAPPENED. **

**  
**

**Yay for new chapter! It's only 11 and a half pages on Word, being roughly 6,000 words (same as last time) but I am rather proud of this. Ha HA! Fax, a little bit of Ari, and some action!**

**That was the first time I've ever written a kissing scene. :| And, since I myself haven't actually ever kissed anyone (*coughs awkwardly*), I just had to use what I've read. **

**...**

**...**

**Yeah.**

**Also, I know that I reused the whole, "Fang is staring at my lips! _Why is Fang staring at my lips_?" thing but that's the point. She's thinking the same thing because basically the same thing is going through her head except this time they actually kiss so...**

**AWK. **

**...**

**I know, I know, you didn't get to find out what the surprise Fang was coming up with was, even though I said that you would, BUT: you'll probably get to find that out later in the story, when they aren't freaking out and fighting Eraser-butt every second. ^-^**

**Review pleeeeeeaaaase! They really do help me update faster...(Like, no joke. They seriously do. I'm not just telling you that so you'll review.)**

**'Kay, bye! **

***.*.*Flitting Wishes*.*.***


	15. FACT: It changed

**TO ANYONE WHO READ CHAPTER 14 AND THEN RE-READ IT AND REALIZED THAT IT HAS CHANGED:**

That's because I decided right after I uploaded it that I did not want to keep it like that. So that's why they aren't together anymore (and the rest of you guys are probably like, "Wait...what?" right about now), instead, they have the awkward stage in between where neither of them really knows what to think. :3

Also, I MIGHT update today or tomorrow because I'm super excited for the action-y stuff and it'd kind of be another "Sorry" present for not updating but twice over the summer. XD

**So keep you're eye open for that!**

***.*.*Flitting Wishes*.*.*  
**


	16. Chapter 15

**Hey. **

**Guess what...**

**I UPDATED. **

**A DAY AFTER MY OTHER UPDATE. :O **

**OOOOOHH!**

**(To quote Rigby and Mordecai.)**

***.*.*Flitting Wishes*.*.***

* * *

The first thing that I do once the Eraser says that:

I stand up, revealing my hiding place.

What else can I do? He has Ella at gunpoint. I'm sure that there are plenty of other Erasers around the school—they have to have more than just that one—and there's really no way out.

But if you think that I give in, you're completely wrong.

I stand up from my position, staring the Erasers straight in his bitter, dull eyes. He grins as I slowly walk towards him, but he doesn't drop the gun from Ella's head. He reveals his pointed yellow teeth again.  
"That's a good birdy," he coos mockingly, his grip around her neck loosening. She gasp, air filling her lungs, and slowly the color returns to her face. Her normally serene and ecstatic brown eyes are frantic—scared. She looks at me, still struggling against his hold, clawing at his beefy arm. "Max," she croaks out, her voice weak, "what's going on?" Her eyes water but I don't respond, still looking at the monster that's keeping her hostage.

My hands are cold and I'm sort of freaking out on the inside, but I shove any "what if" thoughts to the back of my mind where I never go, and quickly start to think of a plan. The Voice chimes in helpfully.

Everyone in the classrooms looks just as frightened—just as confused. But I don't worry about that. I know that the Voice will take care of it later, just like he'd done with the nurses when I was in the hospital.

He continues to grin, looking me up and down hungrily, his eye staying at little too long at my chest, (eww) while I glare at him. If looks could kill, he'd definitely be dead. He presses the gun even harder against her head while I stand in front of him. Slowly, ever so slowly, he starts to put pressure on the trigger, so gently that a normal human would never be able to tell at all.

But as you know, _I'm not normal_.

So I surprise the big oaf by kicking him in the gut, knocking the gun out of his hand before he had enough time to pull it and end Ella's life. Even though I had hit him with enough force to break any man's bones, he only stumbles slightly. But it's enough to do what I had planned.

He lets go of Ella, her landing on her side. "Ella! Run!" I scream at her. She scrambles to her feet as fast as she can, and does what I tell her, running into the hall, glancing back at me worriedly. I give her a look, telling her with my eyes that everything's going to be fine—I'll take care of it. She nods and keeps going.

The Erasers claws at the ground for a moment before grabbing the gun, gripping it tighter, this time aiming it at my heart. "You're gonna pay for that, you worthless piece of—" but he's cut off by me sending a hard kick to his side, using all of my body weight, and then a punch to the jaw. He staggers back—not much but enough to be effective. He knocks into the shelf behind him, full of books and plenty of bulky knick-knacks, sending them tumbling down him. One particularly heavy bust of some important looking man hits him in the temple, and he goes unconscious. "Well, that was easier than what I originally anticipated," I mumble under my breath, even though I'm aware that I probably just jinxed myself.

I turn to the class still huddled down. They look at me like I'm some sort of alien, but maybe that's just because I've stripped off my windbreaker, therefore exposing my brown-and-white wings through the slits on the back of my shirt. "Leave. I can take care of this." But yet, as I say it, I can't stop the growing feeling that _no_, I _can't_.

Without so much as a second glance, I disappear from the room, sprinting down the hallway, looking for someone specific.

* * *

_"Wh-what?" Ari asked, confused and nearly heartbroken. No recognition showed in her eyes and she looked at him weirdly, as if he were some stranger approaching her on the street. "I don't know you at all," she said, sounding so sure of herself that he almost believed it. "Rosie, how can you not—"_

"_Alright, that's enough," Ms. McAllen yapped at them, clapping her hands together and motioning for Marcus to come forwards. He did, hesitantly. She glanced at the dirty little boy who was sitting on the floor next to the blonde. "I want you to escort them to their new…_homes_," she said mockingly. _

* * *

"MAX!" I hear from behind me. I turn around just in time to be tackled by Nudge. "Oh, thank God you're safe." She hasn't noticed my wings yet and I'm hoping to keep it that way for a little longer. I pull her away, and say sternly like a mother would, "Go get Iggy, Fang, Lise, and Ella. Once you find them, I need you all to leave. Get as far away from here as you can." I start to jog down the hall again, peering into classroom after classroom filled with frightened students and teachers.

She looks confused. "What? No! We couldn't leave you here! The Erasers will kill you!"

I stop dead in my tracks, eyes wide. "The _what?"_

She quickly tried to cover up her mistake, blabbering on about something or another that I'm not paying attention to.

"H-how do you know about them?" I ask, cutting her off. She opens her mouth to say something when there's a scream from down the hall.

We turn to each other, knowing exactly what it is at the exact same moment.

"Iggy," I mutter and take off running, pulling my wings against my back again. She starts to follow but I bark at her that she needs to find the others. She puts one hand on her hips and gives me the same look that I've given plenty of other times. "He's my brother, you know. Even if I _am_ adopted."

I sigh but my expression softens a little. "I need you to go find every one else. Iggy's gonna be fine, but we need to speed things up."

Then an idea hits me. "Go through the hallways and get them. Once you have, tell everyone that you see to evacuate the school as fast as they can and for them to get as far away from here as possible. We can't do it over the intercom—the Era—intruders will hear. Got it?" She nods, suddenly looking a lot older than what her actual age is, a grave expression taking over her soft features, and goes in the opposite direction to do as I've instructed.

* * *

_Marcus nodded while she told him exactly which room they'd be staying in. He grunted and two other Erasers came in the room, one pushing a cart carrying two cages—one on the top shelf-thing, the other on the bottom. They only seemed to be big enough for a large dog, which definitely wasn't big enough for two, twelve-year-olds._

_Ari suddenly became aware of what was going on. "WHAT?" He screamed, jumping to his feet and staring at Ms. McAllen in shock while she only continued to calmly type things into her computer. "But you said that you'd let us go if I gave you what you wanted!" He demanded angrily. She waved it off with the flick of her wrist. He wondered how fast he could make it snap if he were to try. _

"_And you were foolish enough to believe me. It's as simple as that," she told him still not looking away from the monitor. Marcus and a couple of other meaty hybrids are carrying crates—two to be exact. It wasn't hard to figure out whom they were for. _

_Ari wondered how far he could drop kick Ms. McAllen right then. _

* * *

When I get to where Iggy's scream came from, there's no one anywhere around and I don't hear a single noise that would tell me of his presence. "Hello?" I call hesitantly, stepping into the nearby classroom. "Iggy?"

As if this isn't cliché already, the door shuts behind me on its own accord. I whip around to look at it, my hair hitting my shoulder, my expression turning to one of confusion. There's a voice behind me that says snidely, "Hello _Maximum_."

I spin on my heel to see the woman standing there, looking so proud of herself that it makes me sick. It's not hard to tell that she works at the School—especially since she's wearing a blindingly white lab coat—and her brown hair is up in a ponytail, her dark green eyes so full of detestation for me that it almost scares me. But I'm _Max_, remember? So it _doesn't_ scare me. It just makes me angry all over again. Plus the fact that her and yet another Eraser, have Iggy standing around, a knife to his throat, nearly drawing blood.

Well, at least they aren't over using the idea of them being at gunpoint.

She smirks, throws her head back, and cackles at me. "The whole idea that the infamous Maximum Ride—the tough bird-girl who escaped our laboratories at only thirteen—the one who we've been hunting down for years—outsmarted by such a simple trick?" She continues to cackle. "It's ironic, it really is. All I had to do was get you're dim-witted friends in a predicament, and you basically beg us to take you?" She uncrosses her ankles and stands up, slowly walking towards me.

I glower at her, covering half of my face with my blonde hair. Then an idea comes to mind. "You haven't outsmarted me," I say calmly, smirking myself. "You might have tricked me, but you definitely haven't outsmarted me. I have plenty of other ideas up my sleeves."

She gives me a strange look but passes it off as me just being cynical. I've always been that way and I'm sure she either experienced just how mocking I can be while I was at the School, or she's heard about it. Neither would be very unlikely.

I don't make a move while the wolf-man hybrid presses the knife against Iggy's throat more while Iggy tries to move back as much as he can. I see the blade draw a single drop of blood. My façade doesn't change. If I show them that I'm worried, then they'll have yet another thing to use against me. So I pretend like I'm completely calm, crossing my arms over my chest and staring at the woman evenly.

"What are you—" she starts but then I pounce forward, grab the gun from its holster around her waist, and spin back around, pointing it at her in turn. She looks shocked that I would even try something like that while one of my best friends is at risk of having his throat slit.

"Now," I say, not taking my eyes off of her. "I suggest you let my friend go or I swear to God that I _will_ shoot."

She only smirks and sits back down as if it weren't a big deal. "You wouldn't. You know you wouldn't."

"Try me," I say through clenched teeth.

* * *

"_You…you _b*tch!_" He yelled, seeing red spots as the hybrids started to come towards him and Rosalina. They started to tug at his arms roughly, trying to make him go in the crate, but he pulled away with all his force, still staring at that heinous woman. His eyes are back to golden yellow, his voice coming out curt and monstrous, which is the result of him morphing without thinking about it. "You heartless, deceiving, loathsome _B*TCH!_"_

_Ms. McAllen only smiled sarcastically, looking more amused than anything. "Oh, those are some big words you're using, aren't they, doggy?" And then she added, almost as a side note, "And you say that like it's a_ bad_ thing."_

* * *

"You wouldn't hurt an innocent woman, would you?" she says sardonically, but it seems more as if she's reassuring herself.

I don't falter to answer, my tone never wavering. "No…but you aren't an innocent woman." I clutch the gun tighter in my clammy hands, staring at her with my best glare, which I'm sure is filled with contempt. My heart pounds in my chest, like it's trying to get out. "You're just a white coat with a sick mind, plenty of issues that you should _probably_ work out with a psychiatrist soon, and a gap where your heart ought to be."

She glares at me, but this time it doesn't give me doubts. She starts to move towards me, maybe to try to trick me again, or maybe to take the gun—but I don't find out, because I stop her, my voice low and more hostile than I've heard it be in a long time. "If you take one more step, I swear on all that I have that I'll make sure this bullet lodges somewhere painful."

She doesn't move.

"Now you listen to me," I start, taking a deep breath. "You've taken everything away from me. My family, my home, my innocence, my normality, and let's not forget about my _sanity_."

* * *

"_GET OFF HER!" He roared while one pulled Rosalina up by a fistful of her tangled hair. She closed her eyes and started yelling profanities at them, trying to get the Eraser's hands out of her hair. _

_It was maybe a couple of days later and they were taking Rosalina to do some tests. She still didn't remember him, though it seemed like she remembered everything else. It was almost as if they specifically wiped out every single memory she had of him. _

_But why would they do that?_

_He didn't have a clue._

_He shoved himself against the sides of the cage, trying in vain to break the bars or to make it topple over so he could escape and help her. But to no avail, because the cage only wobbled slightly. He stopped. It was no use; they'd dragged her out already. Bruising himself up even more wasn't going to do much good, now would it?_

_So he sat in that cramped dog cage, thinking. He had a split lip, a broken nose, and a couple of bruised ribs, but barely even noticed them. Actually, he didn't notice _any_ of his injuries until much later when he _needed_ something else to think about, after hours of waiting for his best friend. He'd started thinking about how she didn't even _know_ that he was her best friend, and so he deliberately started to notice his injuries. _

_It seemed like centuries before she came back. She was okay. Sweaty, bruised, tired, and starving—but okay. That was very good news by his standards._

_Then he remembered that she didn't know him at all anymore. He added "heartache" to his List of Casualties._

* * *

I take yet another deep breath, sucking the air into my lungs like I've been drowning. "And so you can see how I'd never ever allow you to take the one thing I have left, away from me too: my friends." Iggy looks a little startled by my random fury. He's never seen me so angry. "So I suggest that you let my friend and I go."

She says, "Ahh, but you see—"

"Actually, b*tch, no, I don't. I could never see eye-to-eye to anything that the white coats that do genetic engineering on innocent children think. You treat the experiments as if we're too dumb to understand what you're saying, too dumb and too inhuman to feel anything—well, NEWS FLASH: we do. And we aren't happy with you guys. Now, I'm the one holding the gun in my hand, pointing it straight at you. So I advise that you tell your buddy over here to put the knife on the ground, step away from it, and for you two to leave my friend and me alone, before I do something rash. Like, for example: get us all killed."

She looks at me skeptically, pressed up against a desk. "You wouldn't kill yourself and your friend just to kill us." Her eyes are calculating, trying to decide if it's worth it or not.

I shrug one shoulder nonchalantly, as if I have no interest in the conversation. "You never know. Your lot took my sanity, remember?"

* * *

_A month later, she'd managed to recollect some of her memories of Ari, though not many. But fortunately, it was enough for her to trust him again. He wasn't completely sure why they would take her memories away, but he was going to find out._

_He still hadn't found out what they meant by "fixing her" though. She hadn't been acting differently besides when she didn't remember Ari—maybe they "fixed" her by erasing some of her memories? He didn't know. And he did really care all that much, honestly, as long as she was alive and well. She reassured him that she was all right—that nothing was wrong and she was remembering him more and more every day. She started to talk about when they'd escaped the first time, spouting out random details that managed to find their way back into her memory when they came to her. Sometimes they'd be really vague details that Ari himself could barely remember. Other times it was the super important stuff that really counted for most of it._

_She'd tell him about what had happened with in her in those couple of months that they'd captured her and he wasn't around. In return, he'd tell her what he'd been doing—his side of the story wasn't nearly as interesting. It mainly consisted of him wandering around the city, clueless, looking for any sign of her he could find, starving and alone. She told him about all of the times they'd pushed her into the arena and made her go through multiple courses that seemed more difficult than anything she'd ever faced. When he asked how she made it through, she answered, "I just thought of you and my family and how you all were waiting for me to get out alive. So I held on and kept running." And he'd smile and wonder if he'd ever have the strength to do that if he were ever put in that sort of situation._

_Then she told him about the days right after they'd erased her mind of him. She'd tell of how blank it felt and how she'd get phantom memories—she could nearly remember them, could nearly feel them, even though they weren't there. She told about how something was screaming at her in the back of her head that she really shouldn't have been forgetting something so important as him, but she'd push it away every time._

_Then there came that faithful day, when she found out about Ms. McAllen's bargain she'd made with Ari._

_"You WHAT?" Rosalina screeched, eyes wide, leaning towards him through the bars of their separate cages. He wouldn't look at her because he knew that her expression would soon turn to one of disappointment and he was aware that he'd never be able to stand it._

_And sure enough—it did. She scoffed in disgust turning around so that she was facing him. "Why would you even think about bring another kid here only for me?"_

_"Only for you?" he said, eyebrows furrowing. "Only for you? You're my best friend and my only family, and the reason I haven't given up and let them kill me yet!"_

_She slowly turned back around, looking confused. "You'd have let them kill you?"_

_He looked down, ashamed. "It's not like I have any other reason to live," he mumbled._

_She shook her head. "You still shouldn't have done that. I would have been fine."_

_"Really? 'Cause last time I saw, you were going along with everything they said, half way dead, with no memory of me and no way to get out."_

* * *

While they think about my mini-speech, I quickly turn and aim at the ceiling, pulling the trigger without a second thought. The bullet hits a picture high up on the wall, bouncing off and then hitting the leg of a desk about twenty feet away from the Eraser and Iggy. The leg gains a hole and the chair slants, and then slowly collapses.

Startled by this, the knife drops out of the Erasers hand and Iggy jumps at his chance, kneeing the guy in the gut. The woman shouts at us to stop while we take off dashing down the halls again, but I still have the gun so she waits a second before I hear her send out the other guy, who apparently had a hidden pistol and is now aiming it at us. I drop the gun quickly when I find out that that was the last bullet, letting it drop to the ground, hitting a table on the way down. "It's empty!" I yell over to Iggy, "what kind of an idiot—" but I'm cut off by the sound of a bullet bouncing off of a locker near to us, and I'm pretty sure one of those behind us has a new dent. I tug on Iggy's arm, keeping him near me while we run as fast as our feet will take us.

Now, I'm a pretty fast runner as you're aware, but somehow, Iggy manages to stay level with me.

So does the Eraser.

…

This isn't good.

While running, Iggy asks, glancing at me before staring ahead so he doesn't run into anything, "You're an experiment too?"

I nearly trip over my own feet, but manage to catch myself before I face-plant into the cold floor. Our footsteps echo all around the halls as we speed up. "You are?"

"Yeah…we thought we were the only ones."

"Who's 'we'?"

But he doesn't have time to answer me because there's the loud sound of a shot, ringing out around the whole school.

I drop the ground.

* * *

_"I would have been perfectly fine on my own," she grumbled, crossing her arms over chest. He gave her a look, telling her that she really wasn't convincing anyone. She knew that it was true, but she sure as heck wasn't about to admit it, especially not to him. So she kept her arms crossed and stared ahead. She tried not to think about the fact that Ari basically sentenced a little girl to death. She tried not to think about how he gave into his monster side, even if it was to get her back. Even if he had saved her life, it was still wrong._

_Doing something so evil as that just to find out that they never planned to fulfill their side of the bargain? It probably wasn't the best feeling ever._

_She wondered if she would have done the same thing if she were put into that position. If she had to choose taking someone to be tortured over bringing her best friend from that same place, would she chose the selfish way out?_

_She hated to admit it, even to herself but…yeah, yeah she would._

* * *

"Max!" I hear Iggy shout, obviously worried. He bends down next to me to help me up, but I shoo him away, insisting that he keeps going. I hiss through my teeth and get up, ignoring the searing pain in my side where the bullet has hit me.

"It's fine," I murmur, sucking it up and telling myself, stop it Max. You're being a baby. Get over it and keep running.

So I do just that, trying to forget completely about the wound. Iggy takes his jacket off as we run, which is kind of hard but he manages, and hands it to me quickly. I wrap it around my side where I was hit and apply pressure to it as we sprint.

This is proven to be ineffective.

Hey, you can't blame a girl for trying, can you?

I'm feeling woozy but try to disregard it, focusing on getting away from the Erasers. Sooner rather than later, we realize that most of the classrooms are empty, except for maybe a couple, but they're being evacuated at that moment. I wonder if Nudge did as I instructed and got out of there, or if she's still here, looking for Iggy and me. I wonder if they've gone home and are trying to comprehend what exactly happened today. I wonder if the police know yet.

If they do know, then they're doing a crappy job at getting rid of these psychos.

The last thing I hear before passing out into blissful darkness is the sound of the trigger of a pistol being pulled again.

* * *

**Fang's POV:**

* * *

When Nudge runs into our room against the teacher's warnings and screams at me to get up, blabbering something about Max being in trouble and the Erasers finally finding us, I leave without so much as a second glance. The teacher whose name is hardly important right now grabs my arm on the way out and tells me that I can't leave. I retort heatedly, "Sir, not to be 'disrespectful' here, but as of now, the school is under attack by furious half-man-half-wolf hybrids that could break all of the bones in your body with a single snap. I don't know about you, but I'd leave." His face visibly pales and I don't see what happens after that because I have to catch up with Nudge, who's telling everyone that they need to abandon the school and get as far from here as they possible can.

"Nudge!" I have to yell at her to get her to hear me. She stops blabbering and looks at me. "What? What is it?"

"Can you tell me what's the deal with Max?"

She looks confused for a moment before going into detail like normal. "I saw Max leave her class to go somewhere and I accidentally said 'erasers' and she was all like, 'how do you know that?' so apparently she's an experiment like us and then we heard Iggy scream and we were gonna go together but she told me that I needed to get you guys, tell every one to leave, and for us ourselves to get out and as far away as we can," she answers all in one breath. I give my version of an utterly shocked look when she says the thing about Max being like us. I had thought that we were the only one…I had thought that most of them were killed in the fires.

I nod and we continue to salvage my sister and Ella, hurrying down the hallways, our heavy footsteps sounding like drums in the silence. Then she told me that we'd have to get Iggy and Max and make sure they're okay. Once we do that, we have to go home, get Angel and Gazzy, grab whatever we can, and leave before nightfall. She mutters something about staying with her and Iggy's Aunt Lacey who lives five cities over, and I wonder briefly when she had time to plan all of this while she goes on, really just to herself, about costs and flights and plenty of other things you could care less about.

Lise doesn't question what's going on at all, probably already figuring it out, and Ella bombards us with questions. I answer them for her patiently while we go around. Then we decide that Lise and I should go to look for Max and Iggy, so Nudge sends us off and we hurry as silently as we can through the now empty halls until we see Max….

…Lying in a puddle of her own scarlet blood.

My eyes widen at the sight of her, curled into herself, unconscious, the jacket around her stomach stained with red, her face as pale as snow. Iggy's fighting off a large Eraser in front of him, looking strained, so I jump in battle to help him. I send a rough punch to the gut while Iggy sweeps the feet from under the Eraser a moment after. The guy ends up on the ground, looking even more infuriated. Swiftly, I turn around and scoop Max up as gently as I can with my time limit and yell at Iggy and Lise to run.

We do and when we get back to where Ella and Nudge are, we realize that there are maybe ten Erasers now, surrounding us.

We're trapped.

I can't fight while carrying Max and Ella doesn't know how to beat these guys. I doubt she's hurt a fly in her entire life.

"NICK! MONIQUE!" I hear a woman's voice call to us. I turn where I hear her and see that it's Mrs. Mercedes, her dark eyes calculating, her hair puffed up like she'd been stressed (which she probably is) and her classroom door open. We rush in, me first and then Ella and then Nudge. Iggy hesitates before coming in, as does Lise, but Mrs. Mercedes quickly closes the door and locks it with a padlock that I hadn't known she'd possessed.

"This way," she mutters and shoos us to the door in the back of her classroom, leading towards the courtyard. "Leave," she says. We don't complain or question it, but do as she says. I set Max down quickly and take my jacket off, unfurling my black wings. Everyone looks like this is completely normal, except for Ella—she looks thoroughly perplexed. Mrs. Mercedes already knew about me, but I guess she wasn't expecting Iggy, Lise, and Nudge to unfold theirs too, because she looks shocked for a moment. She soon gets over it as there's hammering against the door that nearly makes the glass shatter.

She turns around while I pick an unconscious Max back up, trying to be as careful as I can so as not to hurt her.

"Go!" Mrs. Mercedes yells, shoving thing after thing against the door while they try to get in. One manages to break the glass at the top, and Mrs. Mercedes screams and ducks, the shards barely missing her head.

"What about you?" Nudge asks, looking concerned for our favorite teacher, also my aunt. Mrs. Mercedes smiles slightly, her eyes gleaming with tears. She tries to look calm, if only for our sake. "I'll be out in a minute. Go!"

We don't move.

There's more pounding on the door.

"NOW!"

This time, we obey, Iggy picking Ella up, her arms thrown around his neck since she's terrified of heights. Each of us in turn takes off running before lifting ourselves into the air. We linger over the school for a while, Iggy staying closer to the ground, trying to see what's going on, trying to see if my aunt would run out, having out-smarted those wolf-man like we think she will. We smell the dense smoke before we see it, plumes of gray coming up from somewhere on the far side of the school, away from us. That fire slowly spreads, red flames licking up sections of our school like large, fiery tongues, one by one, as if to savor the taste. I can imagine the classrooms in ruins, desks and boards and papers reduced to nothing. I can imagine the hallways, fire running up and down it, the lockers with plenty of the students' belongings being burned.

I try to push those images away but it's proven to be kind of hard.

As we stay there, watching our school go down in one livid blaze, I notice that I don't see Mrs. Mercedes anywhere. And her car is still sitting, untouched, in the school's parking lot.

* * *

**Aren't I awesome? Not only have I given you more action-y stuff, BUT I UPDATED TWICE IN A ROW! xD **

**Does the whole thing with Ari make a little bit more sense now? **

**(I know, there wasn't any fax in this chapter, but I coulnd't fit it in. There'll probably be some in the next chapter though, so you have something to look forward to.)**

**This chapter was pretty short: only 5,000+ words, which is nine and a half pages on Word. :/ As apposed to last chapter, which was eleven and a half pages on Word which is 6,000+ words. But I like this, actually, if only for the Rosalina/Ari moments and Maxikin's little speech****. :3 Have I mentioned the fact that Max is midly insane before? I don't think I have. She's slowly getting some of her sanity back though...slowly, ever so slowly. But you can tell in the first chapter that I tried very hard to make it seem like her brain works different than a lot of other people's. I probably did a terrible job, but that's what I was trying to get across so...Yeah. **

**The song I listened to the whole time that I wrote this was "Big Jet Plane" by Angus and Julia Stone. It is totally NOT what you'd expect for this chapter, but at the same time, it kind of works, you know? Like when you watch a really dramatic scene in a movie and it's in slow motion and it's completely silent? You think that there'd be music, but there isn't and it works just as well. **

**I'm tired and need m' sleep so I'mma go to bed now, 'kay? 'Kay. **

***.*.*Flitting Wishes*.*.***


	17. Preview!

**I know**.

I'm a jerk.

I'm a BIG, BIG, BIG jerk.

I apologize. I'm sorry, I really am. I didn't intend to be gone so long, especially since I left you at a cliffhanger. But since it doesn't seem that I'll have any more (than I already have) written up, I'm probably gonna put this story on **hiatus**.

…And my jerk levels just sky rocketed, didn't they?

Anyways, so I'm probably going to do that. But not without giving you a bit of ze next chapter, just 'cause I feel like being slightly nice.

**So here it is:**

* * *

_Max's POV:_

It is exactly 2: 34 AM, and I am lying on a bed that isn't mine, in a room that isn't mine, in a house I've never been in before. Lise and I are sharing a room, and neither of us could go to sleep, so we decided to just talk. The date is now officially the sixth of December, and just twenty-four hours ago, I was fast asleep in my own bedroom, in my own house, without a bullet wound in my side and my wing. It's now peculiar to think that just twenty-four hours ago, I wasn't aware that all of my closest friends were also mutant freaks like me. It's peculiar to think that just yesterday, we didn't know that the School was out to get us.

When I had woken up after passing out, I quickly realized that I was, evidently, in a different place than our high school. And I wasn't in any house that I recognized either.

So, naturally, I was confused. Not for long though, because then I realized that Ella, Lise, Fang, Nudge, Iggy, and Ella's mom where standing to the side, and evidently they'd been waiting for me to wake up. No one said anything for a moment while I tried to understand what was going on. My head hurt from thinking and when I tried to sit up, my side started screaming at me in protest, so I hissed and lay back down. The even more odd thing was that there was also a screeching pain in my right wing, even though I didn't remember if I'd been shot there.

Lise smiled sadly. "Mornin' Sleeping Beauty."

Silence after that.

"I stitched you up while you were out," Ella's mother, Dr. Martinez finally said, looking at me. "You shouldn't strain yourself for the first twenty-four hours though."

I nodded. I tried to say thank you to her, but it came out as only a terrible rasping sound like one you would hear an animal choke out right before it withers up and dies. It took me a moment to realize that that dying noise was indeed the response my vocal cords had come up with when I attempted speaking. The second time wasn't much better, but I assume she understood, since she smiled, said, "It wasn't a problem" and nodded.

They started to explain what had happened after I had fainted. Turns out, all of them minus Ella (and her mum, of course) had wings. 'Course, Ella already knew about them, since Iggy was her boyfriend and Nudge was her best friend. (Though I was one of her best friends also, I hadn't very much wanted nor did I need her to know, and like very many other times, she wasn't upset at me when she found out that I had kept such a huge secret from her. She only smiled that smile that she always did, nodded, and told me that it was okay and I was forgiven. How I had managed to come across such amazing friends, I'll never find out.)

It also turns out, that Iggy and Nudge knew that Fang and Lise had wings, and vice versa, but none of them had a single idea before then that I, too, was a winged mutant, whom had also escaped the School.

Nudge and Iggy escaped together, which would be why they were brother and sister. They both landed themselves in an orphanage after they ran away, (by pure accident of course—neither wanted to be in an orphanage, but they'd escaped at the age of seven and eight, and weren't very well off with things, therefore allowing social service to take them there) and were adopted by the same family, resulting in their current adoptive parents. They met Ella at the age of eleven, and had been very close friends since.

Fang escaped before Lise did. It was about two years after Nudge and Iggy left, at the age of ten, and though he'd met Alyssa there, he hadn't gotten out with her. He thought her dead for a year, in which he managed on his own, before he was captured again and taken back to the laboratories. He then found out that she was, in fact, still living—bruised and bloodied and near death, but still living. By then, he was much smarter—much stronger, too, thanks to the genetic enhancements and being able to feed himself a bit more (not much, but more), and he managed to snag a couple of files on his and Alyssa's parents, before they ditched the place once more. ("They must've felt like complete idiots," Lise added, "Not only did they let a ten-year-old escape on his own, but after they'd captured him, that now-eleven-year-old boy and a nine-year-old little girl managed to snag some of their data and leave without them even noticing.") Fang had an idea on where to go—a very, very vague idea that could've lead them into some elaborate trap set up by the School that would cause their death or something, but it was the only lead they had, so they followed it, and sooner or later ended up finding their parents, who by then had Angel and Gazzy.

My story, as you know, goes like this.

I was kept at the School until I was thirteen years old, and my dad, Jeb, was a scientist there. He helped me and was the closest thing I had to a friend. There was perpetually a stinging pain in the back of my head until it was revealed that I had a voice not of my own, that could give me information, tap into every part of my brain that it wanted, and along with that, it could control my every move when needed and wanted. The white coats plan was for the Voice to control me when they needed him to. For example, if I were fighting them while they were doing tests on me or if I ever tried to leave, he could just use a certain tone, tap into my emotions and my actions, and boom: I would bend to whatever the white coats wanted me to.

Unfortunately for them, and thankfully for me, the Voice didn't want to. He didn't want me to stay there; he didn't want to help them torture me. They had him too deep into my brain—he could feel and think everything I felt and thought. He understood what I was going through—literally, since he could also go through every single memory I'd ever had, including ones I couldn't remember—and soon came to realize that he wasn't going to help me play in the proverbial game of cat and mouse they'd set out for me. Instead, he guided me during training, told me what to do when in a fight, and helped me escape. He calmed me down when I was in great distress during the wrong time, and told me what to say half the time so as not to get myself in trouble. Though he could get greatly annoying, I learned to deal with it very early on and was rather grateful that he didn't.

(I didn't tell them about the Voice though, as I was told not to do. Given I normally didn't listen to the Voice unless he made me, this was definitely a time when I knew he really did need my cooperation. And I've never been one for cooperation, but I listened anyways and kept my unspoken promise to him. And my friends, who had opened up to me and trusted me with their lives, still remained in the metaphorical dark.)

With the help of the Voice and my dad, I managed out of that hellhole—the last one of our group to make it out, and I escaped in the midst of the School being burned to the ground. It was an attempt to get rid of all of the experiments, since the government was onto them and all of the considered "successful" experiments had gotten out, along with the white coats and Erasers before it was ever set ablaze. I was considered very successful—I was capable of "proper" thought, communication, human interaction, and still was a hybrid, and could indeed fly. They'd only had seven other mutants (five of which you already know about) with the same capability, but four had already "died", so they told me, and I was really their last chance by then.

'Course, my dad had planned for this weeks and possibly months, so our getaway was managed easily and without much going wrong. I doubt that they even realized our absence until Dad and I were already ten miles away.

One terrible side effect of the treatments and the Voice and all the torture was that I went mildly insane. I'd have reoccurring nightmares—I still do, honestly, though they definitely aren't as frequent—and wouldn't eat for days sometimes. I'd go into a state of shock for hours on end, sitting on my bed, staring at the ceiling, alarmed at nothing at all. There was another "side effect", the worst one and also the one that happened the most. I called it a cycle, because it seemed never ending, and it hurt like heck. It started with a head-explosion, but was about three times worse than the normal ones, and these I couldn't ever control what I did. The Voice couldn't do anything to stop me either, and so it was basically like some unknown beast that's constantly locked up inside of me was suddenly released and starts destroying everything that it sees. All I could really do is scream, and kick, and cry, and I'd stay in that state of excruciating paroxysms for an almost equally excruciatingly long period of time. Sometimes it was _days_ before I went back to my normal self—or at least as close to a "normal" Max as there could ever be.

Sooner or later though, I slipped slowly back into sanity—don't know how, don't care to find out—but I did, and the cycles gradually became less and less frequent, though the nightmares only ceased a very small amount. I was soon able to attend high school like a normal human, however little _human_ I actually am at this point.

* * *

**So that's that and I apologize.**

:(

I'll try not to be on **hiatus** for _too_ long though. I'm still working on stuff, just not at a fast enough pace. :P

Bye for a while.

***.*.*Flitting Wishes*.*.***


	18. Chapter 16

**WHAT NOW  
**

**I HAVE ARRIVED  
**

**(and I've already started on the next chapter)  
**

**THE PARTY CAN CONTINUE  
**

**SOMEWHAT  
**

**MAYBE  
**

**I DON'T KNOW  
**

**OKAY I'M GOING TO LET YOU READ THE FANFIC AND STUFF NOW OKAY BYE  
**

**DISCLAIMER: No, I do not own MR. 'Nough said.  
**

***.*.*Flitting Wishes*.*.*  
**

* * *

**Fang's POV:**

After a second more, I suggest that we leave. Max is losing a lot of blood, a lot faster than I expected. Ella, still with her eyes closed, hanging on to Iggy for dear life, says that we can go to her house. Her mother is a vet and can probably patch Max up, she says. I guess she understands that we can't go to the hospital—they'd figure out about the whole "mutant" thing. And we definitely don't want that to happen.

So we head out. Ella gives me the direction, eyes shut tight. I speed ahead of everyone, going as fast as 250 mph, so that I can get Max there before she, you know, bleeds to death.

I almost crash-land onto Ella's patio, (I went through the woods so I wouldn't get caught flying by any random pedestrians) but manage to skid to a stop before we collide with the glass door and Max gets even _more _hurt.

I rap on the door as hard as I can, concerned for Max's sake. It's not long before I see a woman with brown hair and warm eyes just like Ella's, and she opens the door, smiling the same smile that Ella does.

"Oh, hi Fang, what are you—" She starts, and then she catches sight of Max in my arms and the black wings that are attached to my back, fanned out behind me. Her eyes widen and she rushes me into the house. She tells me that I should just set Max down on the couch and she'd be back in a moment with the things that she needs.

I sit on the floor in front of Max, looking at her. I untie the jacket from around her stomach as carefully as I can and check her wrist for her pulse. I feel a beat and can hear her breathing softly, her chest moving up and down slightly, but her breathing is getting slower and slower. Her normally tan face is white as paper and her hands are kind of cold. I wonder what she'll do when she wakes up…_if_ she wakes up. Dr. Martinez—since Martinez is Ella's last name—rushes back in a moment later, her face pale and worried. She's carrying a white box with a red cross on it and her hands are sweaty as she takes out some things she'll need.

We don't say anything while she tends to her, me just watching, not exactly sure what else I can do. Sooner or later, I get up and walk out of the room, feeling like I'm making her nervous.

Not long after that, everyone else arrives at the house. Unlike me, they stop right (meaning _without_ almost running into a door) and I open the door for them without a word. Iggy sets Ella down and she rushes in, looking for her mother and I guess Max. No one says anything while we wait for Dr. M and our friend. The girls go up to Ella's room after a little while, and Iggy and I go outside and sit down on the bench, still not speaking even though we're outside. I tap a rhythm on my knee, running my hand through my dark hair with my other hand. I start thinking about a certain girl that happens to be almost dying at the moment. What am I going to do if she passes away? She's my best friend and I—honestly? I like her in the other way, (I know—that was such a middle school way to put it, but whatever) so what will happen if she dies?

I decide that's it's best if I don't think about that.

But then my mind moves to another person—Mrs. Mercedes. I knew that she hadn't gotten out alive. There had been no sign of her ever leaving the classroom and I doubt she managed to escape those fires…if the Erasers hadn't killed her first.

"Max has wings."

I turn to look at Iggy incredulously. "Max has _what?"_

He repeats it slowly, as if I were a little kid. "Max. Has. Wings."

"How do you know?"

"When we were getting away from that Eraser that, um, shot her, her wings were extended slightly."

I slouch back in my seat, taking in this new information. So _that's_ what the conversation she had with Dr. Curtis was about.

So apparently Dr. Curtis has a son who's part fox and escaped the laboratories—the company is known as Itex, in case you didn't already know—when he was younger.

Huh.

Nice to know.

I nod at Iggy, letting him know that I get it and that I haven't gone into a state of shock. The more I think about it, the more it starts to make sense. She's always secretive about things and I swear that once I heard her mutter something about it. She wears jackets 24/7 and she just has an aura that she's…different. In more ways than one.

It feels like centuries before Dr. M slides the glass door open, and tells us that she's done stitching Max up and we can come inside if we want. Iggy and I get up immediately and come inside to see her still on the couch, with Ella and Lise sitting at a table in the kitchenette, Nudge settled in a comfy-looking chair near to the couch.

Iggy stands in the kitchen next to Ella while I take a seat on the only other unoccupied chair, which is across from the one Nudge apparently claimed.

No one says anything.

Then Dr. M says: "She should wake up in a little while. She woke up while I was cleaning the wound and so I gave her some medicine to make her sleep while I stitched her up. It wasn't a particularly strong drug, plus her metabolism is fast, so she shouldn't be asleep for too long." I don't say anything.

Ella looks uncomfortable even though this is her own house. "So, um…tell me about the whole things with the wings and terrifying monster-things that tried to kill me?"

Iggy and Nudge go into an explanation at the same time, talking over each other, but then Iggy decides to be nice and let Nudge tell her. The description isn't as long as everyone expected, but it's enough to overload Ella's brain. She asks a question regarding it every other second, not being able to process the fact that someone could do such a terrifying and cruel thing as that to kids.

No one minds her questions, but instantly we all go quiet when we hear Max stir. She mumbles a couple of incoherent things, squeezing her eyes shut tighter as if she were having a bad dream, and we wait without a sound to see if she'll wake up. She doesn't, so we continue as before.

Once Nudge is done, we try to figure out what exactly we're going to do. The Erasers know that we're here, they're after us, and they probably know where we live. The _good_ thing is, is that since Ella isn't a mutant and this is the first time that any one of us has been here ("Wait, you've never been over before?" "Shut up, Fang, and yeah, we haven't, just in case something like this happened. It's the same reason that we couldn't go to your house that one time, remember?" "Smart move then."), they won't know about where we are. Nudge asks Dr. M if we could possibly stay the night and she says yes. But just as a precaution, Lise goes around and closes all of the blinds and locks the doors. We don't want to take chances.

We wait.

She doesn't wake up.

We wait some more.

Still, she stays unconscious.

After a while more, Dr. Martinez asks me to carry her upstairs to Ella's room. I don't know why she needed to take her there, but I don't ask questions, and do as she instructs. The task is more difficult than I expect it to be, what with the abnormally narrow stairway and the fact that I can't jostle her around, but nothing bad happens. Once she's lying on Ella's bed on her back, Dr. M rushes everyone, minus her and Ella, out of the room.

However, God knows we've never been patient, and soon start to get a bit anxious. It seems like hours before we're allowed in.

Maybe ten minutes later, Max stirs again, rolling over a little before wincing at the pain in her side, this time waking up for sure. Her eyelids flutter open and she blinks hazily up at us—Nudge, Iggy, Lise, Ella, and I—squinting against the bright lights on in the room. Lise smiles almost sadly at her. "'Mornin' Sleeping Beauty."

* * *

_They collapsed to the hard ground, out of breath and tired from running so much. "We made it, Ari," Rosalina panted, lying flat on her back, arms sprawled out next to her, staring up at the night sky, the stars winking at them. Flumes of gray poked out from the distance, as they'd just left the building to burn. She let go of a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "We made it."_

_He looked at her beside him and grinned slightly, swallowing the cotton ball in his throat, and he kept quiet, not sure what to say. His eyes had gone back to their warm brown a little while ago, but his muscles hurt like heck from morphing so much. Never the less, he was happy—Incredibly, unbelievably happy. _

_A small, blissful smile made its way to her lips and she took a couple of deep breaths. She closed her eyes slowly, sighing contently. "You and I…we made it out alive," she repeated._

* * *

**Max's POV:**

"This is so…"

"Weird?"

"Yeah. Weird. And unexpected. And confusing. And amazing."

"I honestly couldn't agree more. Except I think this is a bit more scary than you're playing it out to be."

I sigh. "Yeah, it is—I'll give you that."

I smile slightly, draping my forearm over my forehead, the back of my hand near my ear. I stare at the ceiling through the dark, and with my raptor vision I can make out splatters of paint from when Ella painted her room a while ago, along with a stain from water leaking in the attic.

"I still can't fully understand what's going on. You'd think by now I would have, but I just…can't."

"You think this is weird! Wait until you—"

_Max, no! You can't tell them about me!_

_What? Why not? They know about the wings and just about everything else. Why can't they know about you? _

_They can't. Not yet. It's crucial to…everything else. _

_Voice, you aren't making any sense. _

_Just…listen to me. Please. It's important. _

…_Fine. _

"Until I find out about what?"

"Never mind. I realized that you already know about that. Just wait until the _really_ crazy stuff starts happening," I lie, feeling a bit guilty.

It is exactly 2: 34 AM, and I am lying on a bed that isn't mine, in a room that isn't mine, in a house I've never been in before. Lise and I are sharing a room, and neither of us could go to sleep, so we decided to just talk. The date is now officially the fifth of December, and just twenty-four hours ago, I was fast asleep in my own bedroom, in my own house, without a bullet wound in my side and my wing. It's now peculiar to think that just twenty-four hours ago, I wasn't aware that all of my closest friends were also mutant freaks like me. It's peculiar to think that just yesterday, we didn't know that the School was out to get us.

When I had woken up after passing out, I quickly realized that I was, evidently, in a different place than our high school. And I wasn't in any house that I recognized either.

So, naturally, I was confused, and obviously panicked. Not for long though, because then I realized that Ella, Lise, Fang, Nudge, Iggy, and Ella's mom where standing to the side, and evidently they'd been waiting for me to wake up. No one said anything for a moment while I tried to understand what was going on. My head hurt from thinking and when I tried to sit up, my body started screaming at me in protest, so I hissed and lay back down. The even more odd thing was that there was also a screeching pain in my right wing, even though I didn't remember if I'd been shot there.

Lise smiled sadly. "Mornin' Sleeping Beauty."

Silence after that.

"I stitched you up while you were out," Ella's mother, Dr. Martinez finally said, looking at me. "You shouldn't strain yourself for the first twenty-four hours though."

I nodded. I tried to say thank you to her, but it came out as only a terrible rasping sound like one you would hear an animal choke out right before it withers up and dies. It took me a moment to realize that that dying noise was indeed the response my vocal cords had come up with when I attempted speaking. The second time wasn't much better, but I assume she understood, since she smiled, said, "It wasn't a problem" and nodded.

They started to explain what had happened after I had fainted. Turns out, all of them minus Ella (and her mum, of course) had wings. 'Course, Ella already knew about them, since Iggy was her boyfriend and Nudge was her best friend. (Though I was one of her best friends also, I hadn't very much wanted nor did I need her to know, and like very many other times, she wasn't upset at me when she found out that I had kept such a huge secret from her. She only smiled that smile that she always did, nodded, and told me that it was okay and I was forgiven. How I had managed to come across such amazing friends, I'll never find out.)

It also turns out, that Iggy and Nudge knew that Fang and Lise had wings, and vice versa, but none of them had a single idea before then that I, too, was a winged mutant, whom had also escaped the School.

Nudge and Iggy escaped together, which would be why they were brother and sister. They both landed themselves in an orphanage after they ran away, (by pure accident of course—neither wanted to be in an orphanage, but they'd escaped at the age of seven and eight, and weren't very well off with things, therefore allowing social service to take them there) and were adopted by the same family, resulting in their current adoptive parents. They met Ella at the age of eleven, and had been very close friends since.

Fang escaped before Lise did. It was about two years after Nudge and Iggy left, at the age of ten, and though he'd met Alyssa there, he hadn't gotten out with her. He thought her dead for a year, in which he managed on his own, before he was captured again and taken back to the laboratories. He then found out that she was, in fact, still living—bruised and bloodied and near death, but still living. By then, he was much smarter—much stronger, too, thanks to the genetic enhancements and being able to feed himself a bit more (not much, but more), and he managed to snag a couple of files on his and Alyssa's parents, before they ditched the place once more. ("They must've felt like complete idiots," Lise added, "Not only did they let a ten-year-old escape on his own, but after they'd captured him, that now-eleven-year-old boy and a nine-year-old little girl managed to snag some of their data and leave without them even noticing.") Fang had an idea on where to go—a very, very vague idea that could've lead them into some elaborate trap set up by the School that would cause their death or something, but it was the only lead they had, so they followed it, and sooner or later ended up finding their parents, who by then had Angel and Gazzy.

My story, as you know, goes like this.

I was kept at the School until I was thirteen years old, and my dad, Jeb, was a scientist there. He helped me and was the closest thing I had to a friend. There was perpetually a stinging pain in the back of my head until it was revealed that I had a voice not of my own, that could give me information, tap into every part of my brain that it wanted, and along with that, it could control my every move when needed and wanted. The white coats' plan was for the Voice to control me when they needed him to. For example, if I were fighting them while they were doing tests on me or if I ever tried to leave, he could just use a certain tone, tap into my emotions and my actions, and boom: I would bend to whatever the white coats wanted me to.

Unfortunately for them, and thankfully for me, the Voice didn't want to. He didn't want me to stay there; he didn't want to help them torture me. They had him too deep into my brain—he could feel and think everything I felt and thought. He understood what I was going through—literally, since he could also go through every single memory I'd ever had, including ones I couldn't remember—and soon came to realize that he wasn't going to help me play in the proverbial game of cat and mouse they'd set out for me. Instead, he guided me during training, told me what to do when in a fight, and helped me escape. He calmed me down when I was in great distress during the wrong time, and told me what to say half the time so as not to get myself in trouble. Though he could get greatly annoying, I learned to deal with it very early on and was rather grateful that he didn't.

(I didn't tell them about the Voice though, as I was told not to do. Given I normally didn't listen to the Voice unless he made me, this was definitely a time when I knew he really did need my cooperation. And I've never been one for cooperation, but I listened anyways and kept my unspoken promise to him, and my friends, who had opened up to me and trusted me with their lives, still remained in the metaphorical dark.)

With the help of the Voice and my dad, I managed out of that hellhole—the last one of our group to make it out, and I escaped in the midst of the School being burned to the ground. It was an attempt to get rid of all of the experiments, since the government was onto them and all of the considered "successful" experiments had gotten out, along with the white coats and Erasers before it was ever set ablaze. I was considered very successful—I was capable of "proper" thought, communication, human interaction, and still was a hybrid, and could indeed fly. They'd only had seven other mutants (five of which you already know about) with the same capability, but four had already "died", so they told me, and I was really their last chance by then.

'Course, my dad had planned for this weeks and possibly months in advance, so our getaway was managed easily and without much going wrong. I doubt that they even realized our absence until Dad and I were already 100 miles away.

One terrible side effect of the treatments and the Voice and all the torture was that I went mildly insane. I'd have reoccurring nightmares—I still do, honestly, though they definitely aren't as frequent—and wouldn't eat for a week sometimes. I'd go into a state of shock for hours on end, sitting on my bed, staring at the ceiling, in shock from nothing at all. There was another "side effect", the worst one and also the one that happened the most. I called it a cycle, because it seemed never ending, and it hurt like heck. It started with a head-explosion, but was about three times worse than the normal ones, and these I couldn't ever control what I did. The Voice couldn't do anything to stop me either, and so it was basically like some unknown beast that's constantly locked up inside of me was suddenly released and starts destroying everything that it sees. All I could really do is scream, and kick, and cry, and I'd stay in that state of excruciating paroxysms for an almost equally excruciatingly long period of time. Sometimes it was _days_ before I went back to my normal self—or at least as close to a "normal" Max as there could ever be.

Sooner or later though, I slipped slowly back into sanity—don't know how, don't care to find out—but I did, and the cycles gradually became less and less frequent, though the nightmares only ceased a very small amount. I was soon able to attend high school like a normal human, however little _human_ I actually am at this point.

* * *

_"I wonder," she said, a thoughtful look on her face, "if we somehow found our parents, or if we were adopted, could we possibly live, you know, _normally_ for once?"_

_He gave her a confused look. She sighed, drawing lines in the dirt with her index finger, and tried to elaborate._

"_Like, if we were to be adopted, could we go to school and have normal friends and not have to worry about the experiments and scientists and just get on with our lives?"_

_He shook his head and his expression turned bitter. He looked away from her. "We're freaks." _

_She pulled her bruised knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Her eyes settled on the clear night sky above them. "Maybe so," she said, "but does that mean that we can't _live_ like we're not freaks?" _

"_You're too optimistic sometimes, and a bit to easily willing to forget, Rosie," he mumbled, poking the fire in front of them with a stick. She gaped at him for a moment and then glared. "What's the matter with hoping for the best? It's not like I'm the only one who does it."_

"_Only one out here."_

"'_Out here' _where_? 'Out here' as in on the run? As in 'in the woods'? Do you mean to just say that we're on our own, as freaks of nature, us against the world?" She gave him an incredulous look._

_He shrugged moodily._

"_Well, I don't know about you, but I'd be dead if I didn't at least _try_ to hope."_

"_Hope for what?" he snarled, getting more annoyed as moments passed. "Hope that we're going to find our parents by some _miracle_, hope that even if we somehow _do_ manage to find them, they'll want us, even while we're, as you put it, freaks of nature?" Rosalina didn't reply. He continued. "Because if that's it, then it's a pretty _pointless_ hope."_

_She glared. "No, it's not!" _

_Something snapped._

"_No one _wants_ us around, Rosalina! _When_ are you going to get it through your skull that no one will _ever_ want us? I mean, for _God's_ sake, our own freaking _parents_ didn't want us, so why would anybody else?"_

_There was a moment of silence while his words hung in the air. _

_His stomach twisted into knots and he felt bad for saying what he did._

_She gave him a disgusted look and suddenly stood up. "I'm going on a walk," she muttered irritably. "It's dark out," he pointed out gingerly. She ignored him besides throwing an "I don't care!" over her shoulder as she walked. _

_He regretted hurting her feelings so much—he knew saying that wasn't going to help anything, but lately, _everything_ made him tick, _everything_ pissed him off, and he could _barely_ go through a _single_ conversation with anyone ("anyone" just meaning Rosalina, since they were alone out there anyway) without wanting to punch something or wanting to argue by the end of the conversation. It pained him to know that she was starting to understand the bad part of him, the part that no one besides her could get over. He was afraid that she'd start seeing him as what he actually was: a monster. _

* * *

So once I finished explaining my whole life story, minus the Voice, they told me what had happened after I'd passed out. They explained that Ms. Mercedes, bless her soul, helped them plus an unconscious me out of the building. The high school, like the laboratory we were all raised in, was burned, with a fair amount of Erasers still trapped inside. The sad news was that so was Ms. Mercedes, and they believe that she's now, however much I hate to say it, _dead_.

However much I tried not to, I couldn't help but repeat over and over in my head _This is my fault this is my fault this is my fault this is my fault, _like some sort of mantra that I didn't want to be saying. If I had listened, if I hadn't gotten myself shot, if I had bought them more time, wouldn't she still be alive? _My fault. _

And in that somewhat-admittedly-creepy way that Fang does, he seemed to understand what I was thinking exactly, and gave me a look that appeared to say something like _You couldn't have done anything. And anyways, you were too busy bleeding to death to do much but pass out. _

_Bleed to death. _Hmm. I nearly bled to death. I added that to my rather long list of ways that I had almost died. Now my mental list looks something like:

_Infections_

_Over dosing _

_Head injuries_

_Insanity_

_Starvation_

_Drowning_

(That's a story that I'd rather save for later.)

And the newest addition: _Blood loss._

Anyways, then they went on to say that they then flew me over here to Ella's home, where her mother very graciously stitched by the wound in my side and I stayed passed out for—get this—six hours. Honestly! I was a fast healer, (thanks to—you guessed it—genetic enhancement) and to be unconscious for a whole flipping six _hours_ because of a single bullet wound was unheard of for me until then.

But anyways.

They went on to explain, you know, everything else while I sat patiently in the pink, very Ella-ish bed, trying not to visibly wince every time I attempted to scoot into a sitting position. (It didn't work, in case you wanted to know.) After they'd explained everything, we discussed plans. Since the Erasers obviously know where I live, since it was very obvious by then that they'd been stalking me, and probably know where Fang, Lise, Nudge, and Iggy live, we couldn't stay there. They mentioned that since I'd never been to Ella's house before, Iggy and Nudge weren't over there often, and they figured that the School seemed to be mainly targeting _me, _it was safe to stay at the Martinez's for the night.

I called Dad and Mary, explained everything, and he told me what to do. We needed to leave as soon as morning came, and get to really anywhere far enough away from here. Problem is: we don't have enough money for all of us, plus Dad and Mary, plus Angel and Gazzy, to leave the state. We'd need to think of a relative or someone whom we could stay with. Sooner or later, Nudge remembered something about having an Aunt Laccee who lives in Tennessee that we could stay with, who already knows about the whole "wing" jazz, which then made things a lot easier to deal with.

Unfortunately, Dr. Martinez doesn't think I can travel too far with my injury—'least, not on my own. Turns out, I'd been shot in the wing too, something I very vaguely remember, but the hurting proved to me that it did, despite the fact I could barely recall, indeed happen. The bullet wound in my side wasn't fully…healed, obviously, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it had originally been. We'd wait another day to rest up, and then go on our way unless something happens. And we are really, really hoping something doesn't happen.

* * *

"_Hello," the woman smiled at the pair. "You look like you need a place to stay."_

_Ari didn't say anything. He stared at the ground emotionlessly, not agreeing, but not disagreeing. Rosalina looked confused, worried, and suspicious. Which would make sense—you learned pretty quickly in the School that people aren't supposed to be trusted easily. It took her nearly three years to trust Ari—and he wasn't even an adult, let alone a scientist. _

"_Yeah. So what if we do?" she replied rudely, not very fond of strangers and/or adults. Those too together just made everything worse. Not to mention the woman looked very familiar—and really the only place she would've seen someone like her was at the facility, and anyone associated with the facility that wasn't an experiment was not to be trusted. Ever. _

_The woman only smiled empathetically. "Tell me, children," she said, "do you have homes? Parents?" _

_They didn't answer._

_She continued, "then I think that I might just know where you're from."_

_Ari looked up. Her voice…it sounded so…familiar…But not in a bad way. It sounded like some sort of mother figure he wished he had…and there was a faint sense of trust and comfort centered around when she spoke. Like he'd heard and loved it before, like she was from a dream. A good dream; not the nightmares he endured most nights. _

"_What's your names?" she questioned. When they didn't answer after a couple of moments, she added, "I'll tell you mine first. I'm Anne Walker."_

_Another sense of familiarity, a stronger one accompanied by a feeling of nostalgia, occurred, and he thought _what if she was at the facility, but helped us? _He faintly remembered someone helping him years ago, a woman, a mother of sorts that comforted him between all the despair and hopelessness that the School brought along with it. _

_Without thinking about it, he blurted, "I'm Ari."_

_Rosalina gave him a look like, _what the heck was that about? _He mouthed an apology to her, but she only crossed her arms and glared at her feet. _

_Anne Walker's eyes widened slightly, looking surprised, but her expression soon morphed to one of happiness. "Well, Ari," she said, "would you and your friend like to stay with me?"_

"_Why should we?" Rosie spat out, not at all convinced that she was only helping them. Anne didn't get angry, didn't get annoyed at all, and didn't reply rudely. She answered calmly, "Because it doesn't seem that you have any other option. I know you ran away, though from where, I haven't figured out. I genuinely just want to help, you know."_

_Rosalina decided that Ari's eagerness to trust was going to be the death of them, because soon he agreed to staying with a lady that they didn't even freaking know, and, as far as Rosie could tell, that lady they didn't even freaking know seemed pretty dang suspicious. _

* * *

**Frick, that was a short chapter. Meeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhh.**_  
_

***headdesk* why am I not good at things blaaaaaaaaah  
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**Okay, so I have more things planned and I've finally decided a couple of things and what direction this is going to go in, so...yep. But I am not promising when I shall update, because it ranges from a day to a year, and it all depends on the jazz in my life and the inspirational jazz in my head and the whether or not I have any sort of thing that I can write words on. Because sometimes I just like to float upside down in the corner of a completely dark room away from human contact, completely void of any sort of emotion or general thought  
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also**: I like to float upside down in space with my fellow feels people in our little Feels Space Colony  
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other also**: me no good at the writing  
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**but my friend gots a tumblr and you should totes-m-goats check it out it this url right here: keep-a-light-on (dot) tumblr (dot) com  
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**you should follow her and stuff because reasons  
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**she's nerdy and awesome and does the fanfiction also I just don't feel like giving you her fanfiction account either so um yeah and stuff 'kay bye I hope you don't hate me anymore even though I know I'm a terrible human being  
**

***.*.*Flitting Wishes*.*.*  
**

**(pssst  
**

**PPPPPPPPSSSSSSSSSTTT  
**

**LOOK OVER HERE  
**

**sometimes I get in moods where I just don't feel like putting any sort of punctuation in my sentences and I like to purposely misspell/use incorrect grammar (ex: "WAT" "WATER YOU DOING" "LAJDFKLADSJFLASDFJ" "ALL THE FEELS") because my friend -~-the same friend I just mentioned -~- corrupted me and got me into tumblr and I'm too lazy to give you my url so um okay bye and stuff this time for realz)  
**


	19. AN important

_**SUUUUPPPPPPERRRR IMMPOOORTTAAAAAANTTT**_

**Okay, ignoring my annoying moment, this will be regarding OoL and _Pretend_! **

**I have decided that since it's too hard juggling these two and a bazillion other stories (on other fanfiction accounts) and my own, original stories that I have freaking _brain crack_ for, I'm going to update _Pretend_ twice, and then OoL twice, and so on and so forth so that I don't have to one on hiatus, but I don't neglect one of them either. Sound good? Good.**

**NOW.**

**PLEASE.  
**

**GO REVIEW _PRETEND_.**

**I worked freaking _hard_ on the most recent chapter, and it has zero reviews. And it's been 3 months since I last updated.  
**

**:,( **

**NOT A _SINGLE_ REVIEW.  
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**This makes Monica discouraged. Pleeeeeaaaaaaassssee, if you will, review that. It would mean a lot to me ^-^**

**kthxbye see you when I update and stuff  
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***.*.*Flitting Wishes*.*.*  
**


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